SELECTED BIOGRAPHY
Dorset Farmhouse 1963
Toni de Bromhead has always painted. When she was seven, she drew the fields and mountains outside Geneva with her aunt. When she was fourteen her godmother introduced her to oils and she began to paint the sea and cliffs of Dorset and Cornwall.
Gibello’s workshop
When she left school Toni went to London and became apprenticed to master picture-framer Vilmo Gibello. Gibello’s clients included many of London’s literati, leading galleries and members of the royal family. She handled paintings by Rembrandt, Degas, Picasso and William Nicholson among many others. This proved to be inhibiting rather than inspiring and Toni stopped painting for a while.
Frame from the film
Eventually framing became too limiting, so Toni left Gibello’s to train as a documentary filmmaker at the NFTS. She went on to make films for television before moving to Florence where she made a film about Sicilian criminals which was broadcast on ARTE.
Onions and Garlic
While in Florence, Toni took the opportunity to train part-time as a painter, first at the John Angel Academy and then at the Charles Cecil Studio. This training was classical, honouring the Italian renaissance tradition.
Temple of Segesta
Stimulated by her experience with the Sicilians in Florence, Toni moved down to Western Sicily where she bought a small place with views of the agora and castle of Segesta. Here she continued filming and painting.
The Last Days of Matteo Messina Denaro
Toni now lives between London and Marsala, Sicily. She has become involved with a newly formed puppet theatre which puts on the old traditional stories of Charlemagne but which also tells new stories about the Mafia. Here, Toni is happily painting backdrops and the strong colours and contrasts are beginning to influence her paintings. She no longer films, preferring to concentrate on her paintings.