Stephen Citynskyj

I am a freelance artist, specializing in portrait and still life. I was born in Oxfordshire, England, but I have lived here in Florence for several years. I became deaf at age four. When I went to school I had a special
tutor who taught me about writing and drawing. Those skills eventually became my life. I spent almost 30 years as an author and illustrator, working on many products and services for commerical, government, banking, creative and charitable organizations. Having achieved everything I wanted in my career, I decided it was time to treturn to my easel. I moved to Florence to study post-contemporary realist and naturalist drawing and paintnig at The Angel Academy of Art.
"Dignity through Art" attracted me because this city is home to many artists, whose skills could be used to give something back - to raise awareness of the plight of desperate people that live and sometimes die on the streets here. Their misfortune is no less human than the good fortune of others Through this exhibition, I believe that the artists reveal the humanity and dignity of these people.

Diamanta
Oil on canvas
First, Vandana Culea came with her sisters asking to garden in the cemetery, which they did very well. Then, the following year, she brought her husband Daniel-Claudiu Dumitrescu, grandson of the greatest coppersmith in their part of Romania and who has the Buzau technical school diploma. That summer he conserved all the Victorian wrought and cast ironwork in the cemetery, removing the rust and painting the iron with two coats of anti-rust and two coats of enamel. The quality of his work was so excellent that Alberto Casciani, one of Florence’s top restorers, approved. Afterwards Viscount Gough wanted the tomb of Sara Elisabeth Gough, his ancestor, restored and cleaned, and Casciani accepted Daniel as apprentice to learn how to work in marble. Daniel, since then, has restored and cleaned many other tombs in the English Cemetery in Florence, and returns each year to work here, including working on Elisa Spence’s tomb by Oduardo Fantacchiotti in Fiesole and Donatello’s pulpit in Prato for Pope Francis’ blessing from it.

Daniel and Vandana
Pastel or charcoal 30x70cm
Stephen also sketched Daniel and Vandana, a Romanian couple. Daniel`s is a success story, as he now works as a restorer of stone carvings. ​