About the artist:

Rico (Frederico) Lebrun (December 10, 1900 – May 9, 1964) was an Italy-born, Italian-American painter and sculptor. He was educated at the Naples Academy of Fine Arts and received practical training at a stained-glass factory. After emigrating to the United States in 1924, he worked as a commercial artist in Pittsburgh and New York for several years. In the early 1930s he returned to Italy where he studied the frescoes of Luca Signorelli. He moved to California in 1936. He exhibited in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Toronto, and taught at Yale, the Art Students' League of New York, and UCLA. He is best known for his series of paintings on "The Crucifixion." Awards John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1936–37) John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1937–38) First Prize, "Abstract & Surrealist American Art", The Art Institute of Chicago (1947) Norman Wait Harris Silver Medal, The Art Institute of Chicago (1947) First Prize, "Artists of Los Angeles & Vicinity", Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1948) Purchase Prize, "Illinois National Exhibition of Contemporary Painting", University of Illinois (1949) Second Prize, "American Painting Today", The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1950) Award of Merit of the American Academy of Arts & Letter for "Outstanding achievement in the past five years in paintings" (1953) Temple Gold Medal, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1953) Lippincott Prize, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1962) Elected into the National Academy of Design (1962) Purchase Award, "Third Biennial National Print Exhibit", Pasadena Art Museum (1962) Joseph Pennell Award, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1963) John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1962–63)