Faculty

George William Clark, Isabella Watling, Charles H. Cecil, Sam Good

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Charles H. Cecil

Since 1978 Charles H. Cecil has lived in Florence where he devotes his time to portraiture, landscape and figure painting. He began teaching in 1983 and has since trained an international body of students.

Cecil graduated with honours in Classics and Art History at Haverford College before further studies at Yale University. He then received grants from the Greenshields Foundation to train at the ateliers of R. H. Ives Gammell in Boston and Richard F. Lack in Minneapolis. A fellowship from the Stacey Foundation enabled Cecil to paint landscapes in Europe.

He has twice received major awards at the National Academy of Design in New York: The Hallgarten Prize for oil painting and the Altman Prize for landscape. In 2008, Charles H. Cecil Studios was awarded the Excellence in Art Education Award by the Portrait Society of America.

His portrait work is represented in international collections, including the American Philosophical Society and Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Charles H. Cecil is listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in American Art.

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Sam Good

Sam Good was born in London in 1987 and raised in Oxford. He early evidenced a talent for drawing and a keen eye for portraiture.

Van Dyck, Velázquez and Sargent are the portrait painters he emulated as he sought to acquire a training. Dissatisfied with art education in the UK, Sam came to Florence in 2012 to study with Charles H. Cecil. He soon showed exceptional promise as painter and teacher.

Now based in Florence, Sam is assistant director of the Studio and principal drawing and painting instructor. His portrait work has been selected for the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, The Mall Galleries, London.

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George William Clark

Born in Portsmouth in 1988, George William Clark began studying with Charles H. Cecil in 2009.

During his five years of training, he proved invaluable to the Studio as painter and teacher. In 2014 George returned to England to begin his professional career. He now divides his time between his studio in Kensington and the Charles H. Cecil Studios in Florence where he teaches every term.

George’s approach to oil painting is especially inspired by Van Dyck and Velázquez and their ability to capture the spirit of their sitters.

His portrait of Nino has been exhibited at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, The Mall Galleries, London.

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Isabella Watling

Isabella Watling was born in London in 1990 and spent her formative years in the UK and Australia. From the age of 18 she trained at the Charles H. Cecil Studios in Florence where she returns periodically to teach portrait and figure painting. Isabella now lives and works in London.

In 2012 Isabella’s portrait of The Importance of Being Glenn was exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, London for the BP Portrait Award. Claudia Pritchard of The Independent concluded her review of the exhibition as follows:

“BP regulars like the annual game: choose your own winner. Here’s mine: for being not too proud, at only 21, to apprentice herself to Velázquez, Boldini and Singer Sargent, for her romantic, and, yes, painterly The Importance of Being Glenn, for daring to enjoy the dashing and romantic, my vote goes to Isabella Watling. If she can do this now, what a lot could follow.”

In 2014 Isabella’s full-length portrait of Gina and Cristiano was featured at the BP Portrait Award. Her portrait work has also been exhibited at the Royal Society of Oil Painters and the Society of Women Artists, The Mall Galleries, London.

In 2024 Isabella’s full-length portrait of Zizi was awarded Second Prize in the Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award (formerly BP Portrait Award) at the National Portrait Gallery, London. 

 

 

Emily Rogers

‎Emily Rogers, born in Oxford in 1996, began her artistic training with an Art Foundation Year at Oxford Brookes University, followed by a BA in Fine Arts at Leeds Arts University. Driven by a desire to leanr how to draw and paint from life, practising techniques rooted in the traditions of the masters, Emily moved to Florence in 2028 to study at the Charles H. Cecil Studios. During her four years of intensive training, she honed her skills in the atelier’s classical methods. 

Emily now contributes to the studio as an instructor, returning each term to share her expertise. When not teaching in Florence, she works from her studio in Kensington, London, focusing on commissioned portraits. Her work has also taken her to New York and Italy for various projects. 

Emily’s portrait work has gained recognition in prominent exhibitions. In 2021 Eoghan was shown at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London. In 2024 her portrait of Zagara won the Karin Walker Young Artist Award at the Society of Women Artists’s 163rd Exhibition, also held at the Mall Galleries. Additionally she has exhibited with the Almenara Art Prize, Green and Stone, and appeared on Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year. Emily’s portrait of Bruna has been selected for the Society of Women Artists’s 164th Exhibition at the Mall Galleries in 2025. 

 

 

Olivia Arts

Olivia Arts was born in 2002 and raised in Southampton. She early developed a keen interest in drawing and pursued this passion throughout her school years. At the age of 18 she began her training at the Charles H. Cecil Studios. Olivia draws inspiration from Van Dyck, Velázquez and Gainsborough, particularly their mastery in capturing the essence of their subjects. A resident of Florence, Olivia works as a full-time instructor of drawing and painting at the atelier. 

Her portrait work has been widely recognised in international shows and competitions. In 2022 Giulio was shown at the Royal Soceity of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London. Olivia has twice been a finalist in The Portrait Society of America’s ‘Future Generation’ Exhibition: in 2023 with her painting Character Study of Mirko and in 2024 with Portrait of Marco. Also in 2024 Giorgia in White was exhibited in The British Art Prize at OXO Gallery, London. The following year she was awarded 3^rd prize in the ‘Fully from Life’ catergory for the 17^th International Art Renewal Center (ARC) Salon. The portrait will be exhibited at Sotheby’s in New York, July 2026. Olivia’s portrait of Federico in Furs has been selected for the Society of Women Artists 164^th Exhibition at the Mall Galleries in 2025 

 

Visiting Faculty

 

Urban Larsson

Urban Larsson was born in 1966 in Stockholm and has lived and worked in Amsterdam for more than three decades. The artist studied History of Art at the University of Stockholm and one year of architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.

Larsson then moved to Florence, Italy to train at Studio Cecil & Graves. He spent three years there, learning drawing and painting and being introduced to the visual language and techniques of the masters. After his studies in Florence, he moved to Amsterdam to settle as a painter.

Urban’s prestigious and numerous portrait commissions are international. He has for example painted the official portrait of HM Queen Silvia of Sweden and King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, but also the official portrait of Mr. W. Kok, Minster of State, Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands and the Honorable Matthew W. Barzun, the Ambassador for the United States to the United Kingdom.  In 2018 he painted a ¾ length life-size portrait of HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden.

He has exhibited extensively throughout Europe and USA. In 2017 he had two retrospective exhibitions in prominent museums in Sweden and the Netherlands. That same year a two part documentary on his work was broadcast on Dutch national television AVRO.

Since April 2007 he has painted in the former studio of G.H. Breitner (1857-1923) on Prinseneiland, Amsterdam. For more than 10 years Larsson regularly teaches portraiture to the the advanced students at Charles H. Cecil Studios in Florence, Italy. Urban Larsson is married to art restorer Lara van Wassenaer and they have three children.

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Clemens Fuchs

Clemens Maria Fuchs was born in Vienna in 1982. At an early age he was trained by his father Michael Fuchs in the skills of old master drawing and painting. In 2001 he moved to Florence, Italy where he continued his training at the Charles H. Cecil Studios. After completing his studies in Florence, he returned to Vienna to work on commissions. Clemens is especially inspired by 16th and 17th century oil painting. Masters such as Titian, Tintoretto, Guido Reni, Rubens and Van Dyck are constant influences on his sacred and portrait work.

In collaboration with his father in 2012, Clemens worked on an altarpiece for the seminary church of Guatemala City, Guatemala. In 2015 he painted a major altarpiece of St. Agnes of Bohemia for Karlskirche, the famed Baroque church in Vienna. During that time he painted the archbishop of Prague, Dominik Cardinal Duka OP. In 2020 Clemens began a series of six large-scale altarpieces for the Cistercian abbey of Heiligen Kreuz. He redecorated the modern interior of the church according to classical canons. He completed his work in September 2023 and has since received a commission for a series of altarpieces in the United States.

Clemens has participated in numerous international exhibitions, and his work can be found in private and public collections in Europe, the United States, and Latin America. He returns to Florence annually to teach portrait painting and figure drawing at the Charles H. Cecil Studios.