Michael Del Priore was an American portrait artist with an international reputation, known for oil and pastel portraits in the Classical Realism style.
Notability
Del Priore was recognized as "one of America's top portrait artists".. He lived in Fork Shoals, in upstate South Carolina, however, he garnered international acclaim in his 40+ year career by doing over 850 oil portraits of subjects that include Members of Congress, Supreme Court Justices, Governors, clergy, educators, physicians, cultural, corporate, and community leaders. 38 of his works are listed in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery Catalog of American Portraits.
Official portraits
Del Priore's notable portraits include President Ronald Reagan, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates and former Speaker of the House, Representative John Boehner. Thirteen of his portraits are in the , the second largest number by a single artist in U. S. history, ten are displayed in the . He painted portraits for eight of South Carolina's Governors: Strom Thurmond, Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings, Donald S. Russell, Robert Evander McNair, James B. Edwards, Richard Riley, Carroll A. Campbell Jr., and David Beasley. Among his portraits displayed in the South Carolina Statehouse, three in the Senate Chamber, are acclaimed Senators: , John Drummond and John W. Matthews, Jr. Two of his paintings in the House Chamber are of former House Speakers, David H. Wilkins and Robert J. Sheheen.
Early career
Del Priore's artistic talents were evident in his childhood. After graduating from Columbia High School in 1972, he got a job locally as an advertising artist with J.B. White's department store, producing art for The State newspaper, and doing freelance art for local businesses. He befriended established portrait artist Gian Cassone after observing him painting exceptional portraits in a booth at Richland Mall. Cassone, who had studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, Italy, saw Del Priore's raw talent but noted his lack of experience and told him, "Go home and draw a thousand heads, then I'll teach you what you need to know." Del Priore completed the huge task, returning in just six weeks. Cassone never expected to see him again, but true to his word, he introduced Del Priore to master techniques of portrait painting in oil and pastel. Under Cassone's tutelage, he completed hundreds of portraits during a 5-year stint at the mall location. In 1979, Del Priore was commissioned to paint his first nationally known, publicly-elected official when Congressman William Jennings Bryan Dorn asked him to do his portrait for permanent display in the lobby of the new in Columbia, named in his honor. In 1980, on Cassone's recommendation, Del Priore moved to Charleston, SC, to study oil painting under renowned artist Ray Goodbred at the Gibbes Museum of Art. Goodbred, who had studied at the Art Students League under Ogden Pleissner and Robert Brackman, maintained dual residences in New York and Charleston at the time. Goodbred taught him master skills including palette organization, anatomy basics and manipulation of brushes by painting from live models and doing still life studies. After returning to Columbia in 1984, Del Priore entered a competition announced in The State newspaper for artists to do an official oil portrait of former governor, U. S. Senator Strom Thurmond for the Senate Chamber of the South Carolina Statehouse, honoring his 50th year of public service. Over 200 artists responded. The selection narrowed to two, Del Priore and famed portraitist, Robert Bruce Williams of Washington, DC. "In this case, being a South Carolinian worked to my advantage," said Del Priore. "Because Senator Thurmond was famous for supporting constituents from his home state, he chose me. Afterward, the positive response I received from the public helped me move from the mall to a studio, as I no longer had to search for commissions. It was a great blessing and a major milestone in my career." Del Priore has established professional relationships with America's leading portrait artists, studying with John Howard Sanden, the late Daniel Greene, Richard Whitney, the late Nelson Shanks, and the late Everett Raymond Kinstler. He has lectured and given portrait demonstrations at the University of South Carolina, the Columbia Museum of Art; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Art Students League of New York; the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and the Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Art in Chicago.
