Realist painter John Robert Peck was born in New York, but raised and educated in California. He studied physics at the University of San Francisco, then architecture at the University of New Mexico. For a number of years, John worked in computer graphics blending these disciples while he privately studied fine art. He committed himself to realist painting after meeting artist and teacher Jim Smyth in 1997. He also established a Figure Drawing group in Los Gatos, CA, which continues meeting today. John moved to Italy in 2001. He maintained his study of still life and portraiture and achieved a Painting Certificate from The Florence Academy of Art in 2006.

Regarding his art, he quotes an old friend: “If you seek the miraculous, look to the ordinary. But look very carefully.”