Robbie Wraith left school at 16, and went to study in Florence at the invitation of Pietro Annigoni. Since then he has had thirty three one-man exhibitions in Britain, Europe, China and the USA.
He has work in the collection of HM The Queen as well as more than 40 pictures in the private collection of HRH The Prince of Wales, and also in the Royal Collection Windsor, The Vatican, Chatsworth, The National Trust,The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, Oxford and Cambridge Universities, Eton College, The MCC, Shell International, Blarney Castle, Fondazione Fremantle Florence, Hoares Bank, – and many others.
A long list of distinguished portrait sitters includes Her Majesty The Queen, The 11th Duke and Duchess of Devonshire commissioned by HRH The Prince of Wales, The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, The Rt. Hon The Lord Judge as Lord Chief Justice, Nelson Mandela, (drawn while accompanying HRH The Prince of Wales on his official visit to South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho), Roger Waters (Pink Floyd), Sir Roger Penrose O.M., for the Royal Collection Windsor – and many others.
Other work for The Prince of Wales includes two series of pictures of the house and gardens at Highgrove and a series of HMY Britannia. He painted the picture presented to Pope John Paul II to commemorate his visit to Canterbury, and has painted frescoes in two churches in Italy . In 1995 he was elected to The Royal Society of Portrait Painters.
Selected mixed exhibitions have included ‘Princes as Patrons’ at the National Museum of Wales. ‘Travels with the Prince’ Hampton Court Palace, the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, The Discerning Eye, National Portrait Gallery, – and many others.
