in 1986. with the assistance of Ward-Jackson in 1985. In 1971 Ward-Jackson was appointed a director of
Colnaghi's by
Jacob Rothschild, having previously been an expert in the drawings department of
Christie's auction house. He was the chairman and director of his own firm, Adrian Ward-Jackson Ltd, from 1975 until his death. Piasecka Johnson's obituary in
The Art Newspaper described Ward-Jackson and fellow dealer Harry Bailey as being the "gatekeepers of [Piasecka Johnson's] existence, selling to her, introducing approved dealers and fluffing up her social life". His obituary in
The Times wrote of him that "Behind the scenes he did place major paintings and drawings coming out of private hands into the world's great museums; but his most characteristic accomplishment was the making of great private collections". He paid £35,000 for
François Boucher's chalk study of Apollo in April 1978. In December 1986 he bought a 17th-century Baroque marble bust of the French general
François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg for £423,000 (). At the sale of the contents of
Godmersham Park in June 1983 Ward-Jackson paid £144,400 for a Gothic tapestry () and paid £15,120 () for a pair of 18th-century English tapestry cushions decorated with flowers and fruit. This established a new price record for a cushion. In May 1985 Ward-Jackson handled the
Getty Museum's purchase of
Antoine Caron's
Dionysius the Areopagite Converting the Pagan Philosophers from the collection of
Anthony Blunt for £250,000. In November 1986 he again acted for them in their purchase for £2.5 million () of a page of notes by
Leonardo da Vinci from the collection of John R. Gaines of the
Gaines-Burgers dog food fortune. Ward-Jackson discovered
Lorenzo Lotto's
Venus and Cupid in a Swiss collection which was subsequently purchased by the
Metropolitan Museum in New York in July 1986 for $3 million (). Ward-Jackson also acquired pieces for the
Contemporary Art Society, including work by
Elizabeth Butterworth,
Tony Cragg,
Ian Davenport,
Howard Hodgkin and
Shirazeh Houshiary. His personal art collection included pieces by the sculptors
Veronica Ryan and
Magdalene Odundo. ==AIDS activism and death==