Lorenzo Ghiglieri

Lorenzo Ghiglieri was born in Los Angeles, California, on November 25, 1931. His cross-cultural heritage derives from the union of his French mother and his Italian father. He grew up on the edge of an urban melting pot thus acquiring a special sensitivity toward other people and their ways of life. No doubt this diversity of background contributed to his success in developing associations with the Eskimos and Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest.

Both grandfathers were artists: one a sculptor and the other a musician/conductor. His father was a marble and stone carver and his mother a pianist and vocalist. Lorenzo naturally responded to the artistic environment in which he was raised. His exceptional artistic and creative abilities were recognized early in school where teachers and principals asked for drawings and carvings.

Lorenzo won a prestigious award from The Los Angeles Art Directors’ Club when he was seventeen, which provided a scholarship to The Los Angeles Trade/Tech Junior College. His training and education would serve as a catalyst, propelling him into the world of fine art.
His Navy service in The Korean War interrupted his art education.  He served one year on a Navy Destroyer after which he was fortunately assigned to the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet, in Norfolk, Virginia. As staff illustrator and naval painter, he and his skills were put to full use.

It was during this tour that he received a commission to paint the Navy Cruiser, The U.S.S. Baltimore. The United States of America, on the occasion of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, officially presented this dynamic painting to Great Britain. The Baltimore was America's honor ship during the ceremonies in London. Lorenzo was just twenty-two years old at the completion of this important commission.
After his discharge from the Navy, Lorenzo joined the staff of Stephen Biondi Studios. He was soon assigned to their national accounts, including Richfield, Hughes Aircraft, Revell, and Coca Cola. His career progressed and he worked in both Chicago and New York. Though widely successful as a commercial artist, he eventually grew restless, longing for a greater sense of artistic expression and freedom. 

At twenty-five, with so much of life and experience already behind him, Lorenzo made the bold decision to leave the commercial art world and strike out on his own as an independent Sculptor and Painter.  Thus taking the initial steps on the path to his true destiny and sealing his inevitable fate as one of the World’s most renowned and best-loved Artists of the 21st Century.  

Following a nationwide search, Lorenzo was invited to paint scenes for the international biblical epic, “Earth: Theater of the Universe”. During this two-year period of solid devotion, Lorenzo produced a spectacular 100-foot rendition of the earth’s history according to biblical tradition that incorporated almost 400 figures, most of which were posed for and painted from real life. The result of his inspiration thrills thousands who attended gallery and screen presentations of his work.

The White House permanent collection is the home of Lorenzo’s  creation of the official ‘American Bald Eagle’,  The Vatican houses his masterpiece, ‘St. Francis of Assizi’,  and his stunning ‘Strongest Bond’ is the showpiece in the private collection of the incomparable Italian Tenor, Luciano Pavarotti.

Lorenzo’s work is eloquent, strong and original. His imagination is epic and manifests in a formidable range of both style and theme, from modern to classical; patriotic to pastoral to historical, with the promise of a provocative story in every piece. Each sculpture and painting that emerges from Lorenzo’s studio is a documentation of personal experience that makes a statement of wild beauty, glowing with vitality and hinting at immortality. Lorenzo’s work will endure. It exists as a record of the past, a lesson for the present and a hope for the future.