Discovered by a master stonemason at the age of 16 in a small village in the hills above the Dalmation coast in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Mestrovic trained at the Art Academy in Vienna, and went on to exhibit his work in Paris, Belgrade, Rome and across the US. His work in bronze and stone, adopting the Art Noveau style, was feted by the likes of Auguste Rodin. Probably his most famous work are the gargantuan Gregory of Nin, and The Victor, but he also produced a great many other monumental sculptures with themes drawn from epic moments in Slavic History.

Marcus Tanner, who worked closely with the author on preparing this material and edited this biography, was The Independent's Balkans correspondent from 1988 to 1994, covering the collapse of the former Yugoslavia and the fall of communism in Romania and Bulgaria. From 1995 to 2000, he was assistant foreign editor of The Independent.

Published February 2008.