Dr Charles Avery is a specialist on European sculpture, particularly Italian, French, English and Flemish. A graduate of Cambridge University and the Courtauld Institute of Art he later obtained a doctorate from Cambridge. He is a Cavaliere of the Order of Merit of Italy, and has been a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and a Trustee of the British-Italian Society. He was Deputy Keeper of Sculpture at the Victoria & Albert Museum for twelve years and a Director of Christie's and since 1990 has been an independent historian, writer and lecturer. His published works include Giambologna: The Complete Sculpture; Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes in the Frick Art Museum; Donatello: An Introduction; David Le Marchand (1674-1726): 'An Ingenious Man for Carving in Ivory'; Bernini, Genius of the Baroque and The Triumph of Motion: Francesco Bertos (1678-1741).
Avery's understanding of the bronze-founder's world and its daily associations is unsurpassed...compelling --Donald Johnson, Apollo