http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-05-03/news/0305030175_1_mr-botti-paintings-art-students-league George Barrel (aka Italo George Botti) Italo George Botti was born on 24 March 1923 in Greenwich Village, New York a son of Ettore and Filomena Botti, Italian immigrants. The Bottis immigrated to the US on 22 August 1920 from Agripoli, Italy on the S.S. Duca Degli Abruzza. Ettore's occupation was give as "Tailor" on the ship's passenger list and as "Tailor, Clothing Co." on the 1930 census of Brooklyn, New York. Several Botti men and their families were his neighbors in 1930; James "boot black, shoe shine parlor", Dominick "laborer, railroad", and Biase "laborer, lithograph co". These men may have been brothers of Ettore, as all were near him in age. Italo G. Botti was well known for his painting, stained glass, sculpture, and mosaic work. Botti attended the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts, Leonardo da Vinci School of Art, the Abracheff School of Fine Art, the National Academy of Design, and the Art Students League. He studied under Frank Vincent Dumond, Nicolai Abracheff, Reginald Marsh, and Bernard Lamott. An example of his mosaic work my be seen on the Botti Studio web site. He taught at the City College of New York, the Art Students League, and the Art Institute of Chicago. As it turns out Botti is listed in Davenports Art Reference and Price Guide, Who Was Who in American Art by Falk, and is also mentioned on a couple of the more popular on line art web sites. http://www.kevindaniel.x10.mx/newyork.html Italo Botti was born in New York in 1923. It was there where he began his extensive art training, studying at the Brooklyn Acadamy of Fine Art, Leonardo da Vinci School of Art, and the Art Students League under the influence of Frank Vincent Dumond. Botti's expertise in stained glass and mosaics is evident in his paintings. Using a pallette knife, he creates large areas of vivid colors which are smoothly textured like mosiac tesserae. His Paintings have been exhibited in Collectors Circle Galleries throughout the United States, including the Owl gallery. San Fransisco; Walton Street gallery, Chicago and Promenade Gallery, Woodland Hills, C.A.