Luigi Tagliarini was born in Sabbioneta (Mantua) in 1920 and died in 2007. He’s also known by the nickname ‘L'Atheniese’. He studied at the Paolo Toschi Art Institute in Parma and graduated from the Brera Academy in Milan. A surrealist figurative painter, he established himself as a portraitist as well, both in Italy and abroad, especially in England, so much so that he is the only Italian painter one of whose works is kept in Queen Elizabeth’s private collection. Throughout his career, he held solo exhibitions in major Italian and foreign cities such as London, Paris, Manchester, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Lugano and others. His paintings are found in public and private collections in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, England and the United States. We mention, among others, the Frankfurt Museum, the Munich art gallery, the Braibanti, and Tremolada collections as well as that of Mr Schiolette, in Paris. (From the monthly magazine ‘La Follia di New York’, May-June 1992).