Image: Art Renewal Center, Port Reading
Angel Academy of Art has opened enrollment for its four-week Intensive Course in portrait paintings, a programme built around traditional composition structures and underpainting and overpainting techniques associated with realist portrait practice. The course is described on the school’s website as a training opportunity for students of any level, with set starting dates during each trimester.
The academy says the intensive is taught in English and is overseen by Maestro Michael John Angel, with instruction delivered by the school’s instructors. According to the course page, participants are expected to work through a rigorous schedule of practice designed to help them make significant progress toward mastering the skills needed for portrait painting. The school presents the programme as suitable for curious students, aspiring artists and top professionals alike.
The listed learning goals focus on technical realism. Students are told they will learn how to paint with a realism that equals the best realist artists today, how to use underpainting and overpainting methods properly, how to bring life and emotion to drawings and paintings, and how to use photographic source material without copying directly from it. The academy says its methodology comes from more than 45 years of research and experimentation by Michael John Angel, whom the school describes as one of the most inspiring and successful teachers in traditional art.
The four-week intensive is part of Angel Academy of Art’s wider programme and is held in the same studio environment as the school’s three-year diploma course. The academy says that arrangement places intensive students alongside an international student body of over 30 nationalities. The school also identifies itself as ARC Approved.
Enrollment is open for the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 academic years. The course page lists application deadlines for each trimester: March 1 for fall trimester starts; June 1 for winter trimester starts; and October 1 for spring trimester starts. It also provides the corresponding course start dates, with fall sessions beginning on October 7 and November 4 in 2025-2026, and October 5 and November 2 in 2026-2027.
Winter trimester courses are listed as starting on January 19 and February 16 in 2026, and on January 18 and February 15 in 2027. Spring trimester courses are listed as starting on April 27 and May 25 in 2026, and on April 26 and May 24 in 2027. The academy is based at Via Nardo di Cione 10 in Florence, Italy.
