Peter Murphy Biography


Peter in his Studio

Peter Murphy Born 1959 in Leeds, moved to Liverpool and later Durham. Educated at Jacob Kramer College of Art and the University of East London. Trained with iconographer Guillem Ramos Poqui in London. Peter uses traditional techniques from medieval religious painting, including egg tempera paint and gold leaf. He was Vice Chairman of the Society of Tempera Painters and is a member of The British Association of Iconographers for whom he runs workshops. He runs courses in the UK, Canada, Greece, and Italy teaching these techniques and in addition leads groups on Sacred Art Tours to Italy and Sicily. He has been commissioned by a number of churches in the UK, notably Tewkesbury Abbey and Hereford Cathedral. He has also been employed by a number of museums for special exhibitions; he has recreated a triptych by Simone Martini for The Barber Institute of Fine Arts and created a mural of ten scenes from the life of Benedict Biscop for Bede's World Museum in Jarrow. He was one of a team on a BBC TV show which recreated a Botticelli painting in a week. He formed a Broadstairs Stuckist group in 2005 and has exhibited with the group on several occasions since. He has recently undertaken three major commissions for Hereford Cathedral. This year he helped establish and is chief tutor for the St Peter’s Centre for Sacred Art, located in the medieval church of St Peter’s in the heart of Canterbury. He is visiting tutor in Byzantine Iconography and Early Italian painting and gilding techniques for the Edward James Foundation at West Dean College in Sussex.