Francisco Centofanti was born in London in 1976. He studied under Norman Blamey RA in 1996. He spent one year at the Chelsea Art School, followed by another year at the City and Guilds Art School. In 1997 he began his studies at The Florence Academy of Art where he remained until 1999. He was a finalist in the “BP Award” at the National Portrait Gallery in London in 2000. He was awarded the Caroll Foundation Award for best young portrait artist by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 2003 and in 2006 received third prize in the ROI Winsor & Newton Young Artist Award. . He currently lives in London and continues to work as a painter. His work hangs in many private collections. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in the U.K. and abroad.