Kyril Vassilev

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Kyril P. Vassilev (b. May 24, 1908 in Russia, d. June 23, 1987 in the United States) was a world-renowned portrait painter of royalty and American society during the mid-century. His parents were Bulgarian and stated that he started painting when he was 3 years old.

At the age of 16, Vassilev received his first important portrait commission. He painted he portrait of Bulgaria's Secretary of War, War Lazaroff. He then enrolled in the Bulgarian Academy of Science. In 1927, he was selected to paint the official portrait of Bulgaria's King Boris.

In 1929, he completed his masterpiece portrait of the Archbishop Angelo Roncalli, then the papal nuncio to Bulgaria. The Archbishop later became Pope John XXIII. This is the only portrait of Pope John XXXIII in his bishop's robe. Vassilev kept the portrait and later rejected an offer of $250,000 for the life-sized oil painting.

Vassilev continued to establish himself as a world-famous portrait artist. He moved to the United States in 1937. He was a member of the Wisconsin Artist Society. He also established a studio in West Palm Beach, where he continued to paint socialites and political officials. His friendships included Ernest Hemingway, President Harry S. Truman and Jack Dempsey.

Vassilev painted the portrait of American president, Harry S. Truman, which hangs in the Truman Presidential Museum & Library. A photograph of Vassilev can be found at http://www.trumanlibrary.org/photographs/view.php?id=3403

Vassilev's famous clients included King Peter II of Yugoslavia and Michael and Carol, the king and queen of Romania.

In 1989, Norton Gallery of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, held a retrospective of his work.

Vassilev died on June 23, 1987 of a heart attack.