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Francesco Pelleschi (1946) was born in Tuscany (Italy), where he resides. He starts to paint after school in 1966.
In 1968, wins his first prize in a national competition held in the town of Vinci - Leonardo's birthplace - where the president of the judges was Raffaele De Grada, who was to write the text, a few years later, for Pelleschi's exhibition in Milan.
In 1969, invited to the biennal La Gioconda exhibition together with Xavier Bueno, Renato Guttuso, Bruno Saetti, Ernesto Treccani, Corrado Cagli and others.
During the seventies, perfects his technique of preparing canvases, panels, and cardboard with gesso and animal glue. Many years later, in 1999, Jean Audigier (professor of Art History in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at the University of San Francisco) will thoroughly describe this process during his visit in Italy to meet the artist:
“Suddenly, I am not in Pelleschi's studio, but am in a Florentine Bottega six centuries ago, where speed matters less than outstanding execution, and hard work and pride are the rule, not the exception. Pelleschi shows me around the studio (then and now) and educates me: here, a panel that had received its first layer of gesso (a mixture of finely ground plaster and animal glue); there, a gessoed panel covered with linen; turn around, a panel with an old linen sandwiched between two layers of gesso. It is a practical lesson that no book description has ever given me. Pelleschi shows me each panel, guides me to feel its rich texture, and I sense the evident pride and delight he takes in this preparatory work; work that is essential to the success of his paintings”
(Jean Audigier, 1999)
