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3 unusual facts about Francis Dennis Ramsay


Francis Dennis Ramsay

His formal training included reading Architecture at University College London and three years’ study in Florence (1953–1955) as a pupil of Pietro Annigoni (1910–1988), the internationally renowned grande maestro portrait painter of the 20th century (Annigoni subsequently became a godfather to Ramsay’s younger son, Justin).

However, as the paint is not commercially available, the artist must mix his own colours using pigment powders, oil, varnish, egg yolk and a preservative; uniquely, Ramsay discovered that Scotch whisky is an excellent preservative for the egg in the oil tempera mix!

Frederick Richard Simms

Frederick Richard Simms' first wife was Austrian, his second, married 1910, was Mabel Louise, daughter of cotton merchant Joseph Worsley and they had two daughters, one of which was Rosemary Mabel who married the Artist Dennis Ramsay.



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