Career
He was director of the National Portrait Gallery 1964–1967, and of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1967–1973. And Fellow of Christ"s College, Cambridge, 1967–1973, and Director of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1973-1985 and Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, 1973–1985. He was knighted in 1983.
He was Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford for 1966-1967.
In 1956, he prepared a descriptive catalogue of the Petre family portraits at Ingatestone Hall for the Essex Record Office. Under the pseudonym Peter Towry, Piper wrote a number of novels, including Trial by Battle (1959), a story based on his experiences as a prisoner of war in Japan for three years during World World War World War II
