Susanna Mary Avery-Quash (born 1970) is a British

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

, curator, and author. She is senior research curator at the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

, researching its collections and curating 19th-century items in its history collection, and a research fellow in the history of art at the

University of Buckingham , mottoeng = Flying on Our Own Wings , established = 1973; as university college1983; as university , type = Private , endowment = , administrative_staff = 97 academic, 103 support , chance ...

. She has written widely on her subject, with particular interests in early Italian art and the growth of the international art market, and is a contributor to the ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

''.

Early life

Avery-Quash is a daughter of Dr Charles Avery of

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and E ...

, and his wife Kathleen Jones. When she was born, her father was deputy keeper of sculpture at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

and later directed the sculpture department of

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

."Avery, Dr Charles Henry Francis", in Daniel Sefton, ed., ''

Debrett's People of Today ''Debrett's People of Today'' was a reference work published by Debrett's containing biographical details of approximately 25,000 notable people from across the spectrum of British society, a rival to the longer-established ''Who's Who''. Those inc ...

'' Vol. MMVII (2006), p. 59; "Avery, Dr Charles Henry Francis", in ''Marquis Who’s Who'', marquiswhoswho.com, accessed 27 July 2022 She was educated at

St Paul's Girls' School St Paul's Girls' School is an independent day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in West London, England. History St Paul's Girls' School was founded by the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1904, using part o ...

and

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...

, where she took a first degree in

modern languages A modern language is any human language that is currently in use. The term is used in language education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication (such as French and German) and dead classical languages such a ...

, followed by a diploma at the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

, and then returned to Cambridge to graduate

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

Dr Susanna Avery-Quash Senior Research Fellow in the History of Art

profile, accessed 27 July 2022 Known in her early life as Susanna M. Avery, on her marriage to Ben Quash, also a member of Peterhouse, she added his name to her own."Dr Jonathan Ben Quash and Miss Susanna Mary Avery" in "Forthcoming Marriages", ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 29 August 1991

Career

In 1997, Avery-Quash was appointed as Munby Fellow in Bibliography at the University of Cambridge, then in 2002 became a lecturer in the history of art there. From 2006 to 2009 she was Eastlake Research Fellow at the

, since when she has held other posts, including senior research curator (history of collecting) and assistant curator. She is senior research fellow in the history of art at the

and an honorary research fellow at

Birkbeck, University of London , mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck. , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £4.3 m (2014) , budget = £10 ...

. She is also a Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...

and a trustee of the Francis Haskell Memorial Fund and the Society for the History of Collecting.Susanna Avery-Quash
profile, britishartnetwork.org.uk, accessed 27 July 2022 Avery-Quash researches the National Gallery’s collections of art and is curator for 19th-century items in its history collection. She writes about the history of art collections, both private and public, and the growth of the art market. A focus of her research has been Sir Charles Eastlake, founding director of the National Gallery. With Julie Sheldon she is co-author of a biography of Eastlake, ''Art for the Nation: The Eastlakes and the Victorian Art World'' (2011) and is editor of ''The Travel Notebooks of Charles Eastlake'' (2011). In 2013, she co-organised an international conference on Discovering the Trecento in the Nineteenth Century. She has published articles on the role of Anglican clergy and of Prince Albert as collectors of early Italian art.

Selected publications

Luke Syson Luke Syson is an English museum curator and art historian. Since 2019, he has been the director of the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge, prior to which he held positions at the British Museum (1991–2002), the Victoria and Albe ...

Dillian Gordon Dillian Rosalind Gordon OBE is a British art historian who worked as a curator at the National Gallery, London from 1978 to 2010, latterly as Curator of Italian Paintings before 1460. She lives in Oxford. She was appointed OBE in 2011 for servic ...

, with contributions by Susanna Avery-Quash, ''Pisanello: Painter to the Renaissance Court'' (London: National Gallery Company, 2001) *Introductory essay in Dillian Gordon, ''National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings'', Vol. 1 (London, 2003) *''Art for the Nation: The Eastlakes and the Victorian Art World'' (Yale University Press, 2011), with Professor Julie Sheldon *''The Travel Notebooks of Charles Eastlake'' (Walpole Society, 2011), editor *''Truth & beauty: the Pre-Raphaelites and the old masters'' (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2018), with Melissa E. Buron *''London and the Emergence of a European Art Market, 1780-1820'', with Christian Huemer (Getty Research Institute, 2019) *''Leonardo in Britain: Collections and Historical Reception'' (Ad Ilissum, 2019), with Juliana Barone *''The Georgian London Town House: Building, Collecting and Display'' (2019), with Kate Retford *''National Gallery Technical Bulletin: Volume 40'' (2019), with Marika Spring *''Old Masters Worldwide: Markets, Movements and Museums, 1789–1939'' (2020), with Barbara Pezzini *''Creating a National Collection: The Partnership between Southampton City Art Gallery and the National Gallery'' (Southampton City Art Gallery, 2021) *Christine Riding, ''Gainsborough's Blue boy: the return of a British icon'' (National Gallery Company, 8 February 2022), with contributions by Susanna Avery-Quash, Melinda McCurdy, Jacqueline Riding and Imogen Tedbury

Notes

External links

*
''The Bridgewater Collection: Its Impact on Collecting and Display in Britain''
Lecture by Susanna Avery-Quash, Research Curator in the History of Collecting, given at the National Gallery on 7 December 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Avery-Quash, Susanna Living people 1970 births Academics of the University of Buckingham Academics of the University of Cambridge Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge British art curators English art historians Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London People associated with the National Gallery, London People educated at St Paul's Girls' School