Over the last 30 years Benjamin Franklin Long, IV has established an international reputation as a portrait painter and rare contemporary master of the ancient art of “true fresco,” painting directly on wet plaster walls. Born in Texas, Long is the grandson of McKendree Robbins Long (1888-1976), a revivalist preacher and visionary painter whose early art training had grounded him firmly in the Western classical tradition. Benjamin F. Long, IV grew up in Statesville, NC, and studied at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Art Students' League in New York. Traveling to New York City, Long became a member of the Art Students League and began studying with Robert Beverly Hale and Frank Mason.

Long traveled to Italy to apprentice himself to Pietro Annigoni in hopes of studying oil painting but found that Annigoni was no longer painting in oil but in the medium of fresco. Undiscouraged, Long committed himself to Annigoni for almost eight years, working beside him in fresco work and teaching himself to paint in oil.

Visit Ben Long's web site: http://www.benlongfineart.com