Daniel Graves

Sunset at the Old Oak,oil on canvas, 20"x27"

Daniel Graves, founder and director of The Florence Academy of Art, exemplifies the Academy's commitment to the academic tradition and to the importance of receiving instruction from teachers who are also active painters in their own right. He graduated Cum Laude from the Maryland Art Institute in 1972, where he studied anatomy and painting with Joseph Sheppard, then pursued etching and history painting with Richard Serrin at the Villa Schifanoia Graduate School of Fine Art in Florence. After studying with Richard Lack at the Atelier Lack in Minnesota, where he also taught etching, he returned to Florence. It was here that Daniel came under the influence of Pietro Annigoni, who praised the truly unusual candor of Daniel's work, calling him one of the most gifted foreign painters in Florence.

While studying in Florence, Daniel came to understand that what is passed on from teacher to student is a language evolved through the centuries, something impossible to transmit except by visual example. After realizing that frustration was common among students unable to find solid training, he began teaching in Florence in 1984. The Florence Academy of Art was formed in 1991 on the principle that through intense observation of nature and study of the Old Masters, and the use of traditional techniques, students will develop considerable powers of draftsmanship. Daniel aims for the highest level of instruction at the Academy to ensure that his students acquire the skills needed to develop a visual language, and, ultimately, create a work of universal relevance. Daniel Graves has had numerous successful solo and group shows in Europe and the United States, and his portraits, interiors, still lives, and etchings are part of private and public collections worldwide.