Vasco Lazzolo
(circa 1915-1984), ArtistSitter in 1 portrait
by Baron (Sterling Henry Nahum)
halftone reproduction tear sheet, published 8 December 1954
NPG x193455
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Christos Kanoutas
28 September 2020, 22:53
Vasco Lazzolo was born in 1915. He studied at the Liverpool School of Art and at the Slade, establishing a successful career as one of the top illustrators of book covers and fashion magazines in the country right up to the Second World War.
After the war, he became a well known Society Portrait Painter and sculptor. He maintained a large studio in Kensington. He was much in demand as a portrait painter, moving easily between London's high society and the seamy Soho demi-monde.
Lazzolo produced sculptures of the Duke of Edinburgh and the actor Peter Ustinov as well as the writer William Somerset Maugham.
In 1961 the Duke of Edinburgh invited Lazzolo to paint him at Buckingham Palace. Other famous sitters included the King of Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Queen Elizabeth, the Maharajah of Cooch-Behar, David Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven, Stirling Moss, James Mason, Donald Campbell, Sam Goldwyn, Somerset Maugham, Margaret Leighton, Michael Wilding, Baron & Lady Hastings and model and actress Vicki Martin.
Lazzolo's Aero Girl portrait, part of the JWT Aero post-war advertising campaign, was published in April 1956. His sitter was Iris Le Louet. The painting is now held in the Rowntree & Co. Ltd archive at the Borthwick Institute for Archives.
One of Lazzolo’s paintings captured the moment when England captain Bobby Moore handed the Jules Rimet Trophy to Sir Alf Ramsey after England's World Cup Final victory over West Germany. Mr Michael Pitt-Bailey presented the painting to the England manager.
By the age of 48 Lazzolo was regarded as one of Britain's best known sculptors and royal painters.
In the late 1960s he moved to Malta where he died in 1984.
Nicholas de Piro
12 January 2021, 12:50
His portrait of Angela Simonds nee Borg Olivier the daughter of the Prime Minister of Malta clearly shows a special effort. She is wearing an engagement ring by Andrew Grima the Maltese jeweller whose establishment was in Duke Street, St James's. He painted a large number of locals and expatriates and his style never weakened as he grew older, in fact the opposite was the case. Several hundred items of his work are in Malta and he certainly deserves a good publication of his artistic talent.