Biography
Anna Somers Cocks is the former chairman of the Venice in Peril Fund, which restores monuments and works of art in Venice, funds educational projects, and set up a research program at Cambridge University aimed at bringing scientists together to resolve the disagreements about how to deal with the flooding.
She is the governor of the Courtauld Institute; trustee of the Gilbert Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London; trustee of the Cass Sculpture Foundation; and member of the Advisory Board of the Sotheby’s Institute.
Anna Somers Cocks is former member of the Illicit Trade Advisory Panel, which has counseled the British government over three years on the criminal aspects of the trade in art, and, especially, antiquities. This led to Britain signing the Unesco Convention of 1970.
She is the author of various books and contributions to scholarly publications; articles in The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, the Independent, The New Statesman etc., and The Art Newspaper; and has lectured at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, National Gallery, London, National Gallery, Washington, Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, National Gallery, Canberra, Fondazione Cini, Venice, FAI, Palazzo Reale, Turin, Adelaide Festival of Arts, World Water Forum, Mexico City
Anna Somers Cocks has received the following honours and awards: Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, 1984; National Art Collections Fund annual prize, 1992; Commendatore della Stella di Solidarietà italiana, 2004; winner of the Arts and Media Section of the 16th European Woman of Achievement Award, 2006; 2011, OBE.