Madley, who worked at Phillips and Christie’s in New York before joining Dreweatts in 2004, is known in Australia thanks to his role conducting the annual televised auction of cricketers playing in the Indian Premier League.
Based outside Bath, Madley will be searching for significant examples of Australian art and silver, as well as sporting and cultural ephemera and books.
He will also publicise sales by Shapiro, which has other offices in Melbourne and Adelaide, to London dealers.
Shapiro said it made the appointment partly because many of Australia’s leading artists of the late 19th to mid-20th century lived in London.
Works by Sidney Nolan, Emanuel Phillips Fox, Ethel Carrick Fox, Margaret Preston, Ethel Spowers and others have surfaced in English country houses in the past five years.
“Richard is a great asset to our team,” said Andrew Shapiro, managing director of Shapiro Auctioneers, who once worked with Madley at Phillips in New York.
“His expertise is well-rounded and he has a very refined eye for great objects and paintings, and of course for cricket memorabilia.”
