Nicholas St John Rosse

Nicholas St John Rosse
Royall Fine Art
Art Dealers - Picture Consultants - Framers & Restorers

Established 1983

NICHOLAS ST JOHN ROSSE

oils on canvas or board

Born in London in 1945. Nicholas was accepted as pupil by the Italian Master Pietro Annigoni at the age of just 16, He then
spent three years under Annigoni's tutelage in Italy whilst simultaneously attending the Scuola de Nudo at the Florence Academy.
From the master, Nicholas acquired sound draughtsmanship and the knowledge of traditional techniques which are the basis of all
fine art.

Nicholas is a versatile artist whose subject matter encompasses figures, still life, landscapes, seascapes and portraiture.

He has exhibited all over the world, including Italy, Spain, France, Belgium and the UK. He has twice won the Elizabeth Greenshields
Foundation Award, a Montreal based foundation which exists to solely recognize the achievements of artists working in traditional and
representational styles.

breaking news ...........

A specially commissioned painting of the Last Supper is to be hung in a church in North Cornwall.The congregation of St Paul's Roman Catholic Church commissioned artist Nicholas St John Rosse to paint the picture to mark the 40th anniversary of the building of the church.

Now the picture is complete apart from varnishing and framing and will be installed in its new home by the middle of January. But this depiction of the Last Supper is particularly unusual in that it portrays the disciples in contemporary clothes. All of the disciples will be recognisable as local people, who were used as models for the picture. Mr St John Rosse's own son, Alex, is depicted as Christ, while the parish priest Father Brian Storey represents Andrew.Mr St John Rosse said: "There are all sorts of local people in the picture including a farmer, a fisherman, both of my sons, a gardener and two priests."

The picture shows the disciples listening intently to Christ after he has broken the bread and it is lit by a light emanating from the centre of the painting, in front of Christ. It is something of a departure from his more usual work for Mr St John Rosse, who mainly paints portraits and people on the beach.

He has made his living as an artist ever since he first studied with the famous portrait painter Pietro Annigoni in Florence after leaving school and although he has specialised in portraiture, like Annigoni, he admits to having always been interested in Italian art, which has produced a vast amount of religious paintings over the centuries. He said: "I have painted a couple of religious paintings but nearly all my work has been portraiture, people and children on the beach, because I also love to paint the sea. But certainly Annigoni, towards the end of his life, painted many religious paintings, huge murals, so whether that has influenced this work I don't know.I had the canvas prepared for this work about four years ago but only really started painting it about 18 months ago.It is about 10ft wide and 3ft tall, so while not vast, it is certainly larger than my work usually is. But it is designed to fit above the Sanctuary in the church.