Born in 1961 in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, Richard Franklin lived and studied in Europe, the Middle East, and throughout the United States. Having graduated from International University High School in Watford, England, Franklin attended Brigham Young University and the Colorado Institute of Art. He learned the art of oil painting studying with master artists in Saudi Arabia. Franklin began his art career as a commercial artist. Between 1987 and 1989 he taught illustration art at the Phoenix Institute of Technology. In March 1990, Franklin spend one year studying in the museums of Europe, Belgium, Holland, France and Germany. He received intense studies of the old masters' techniques by working directly in museums from the original paintings of Rembrandt, Van Dyke, Vermeer, Monet, and many others. The aesthetics of the Old Masters impressed him a great deal and he continued the classic tradition in his work, meticulously combining the technique of the Old Masters with his own contemporary sensibility to create unique works. I was trying to understand their sense of composition, color and portrayal of the human spirit. I find also that the effects of age add a richness and translucence that even they did not foresee, and which I try to reproduce. Franklin's beautiful treatment of the human figure draws from the religious, mythological and secular visions of the past. To his compositions he added visuals elements of a more modern style. The result is his unique aesthetic, and perhaps the hope that the ideal of beauty sought by the Old Masters still exists in today's world.