Education
Later he studied English Literature at the University of Oxford and then studied art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.
Later he studied English Literature at the University of Oxford and then studied art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.
Usually known as Ben Read, he is the author of numerous books, essays and articles on nineteenth and twentieth-century art history, and is probably the most authoritative writer on British Victorian sculpture alive today. Born in Seer Green, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, Read went to Ampleforth School, a Catholic boarding school, run by Benedictine monks. As well as teaching at the Courtauld Institute, he was Deputy Witt Librarian there until 1990, when he became Senior Lecturer in Art History at the University of Leeds.
At Leeds University he was also Director of the Master of Arts Sculpture Studies programme, under the auspices of the Henry Moore Foundation, from 1990 to 1997.
In 2010 he was made Senior Visiting Research Fellow in Fine Art at the University of Leeds. In addition, Benedict Read is external examiner for the Cyprus College of Art, chairperson of the editorial committee of the Sculpture Journal, former president of the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association, and Chairperson of the Leeds Art Collections Fund (the LACF) and a keen Arsenal supporter.
He is also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. He is the brother of writer Piers Paul Read and half-brother of the British Broadcasting Corporation documentary maker John Read.