Lorenzo Scott was born in rural West Point, Georgia and had ten brothers and sisters. He began drawing and sketching at the age of five. His passion for art became a major distraction in school and resulted in poor grades. In 1968 he went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and noticed people painting on the street. He realized his talents and began painting on canvas with oil paint. He also used the High Museum of Art in Atlanta to study how artists painted eyes, mouths and noses. He used religious iconography from the old master paintings to experiment with glazing and composition. As a devout Baptist many of his works contain a religious tone, however they are based on Roman Catholic themes adapted from famous works of art that he has studied in museums.
One night Scott saw a bright light that filled his bedroom, which made his body and spirit jump. He felt that he was destined to paint and he started selling his work after this experience. He immersed himself in Renaissance themes and even created his own frames from scrap lumber, which he would then coat with automobile Bondo and gold paint to achieve a gilded frame effect. In the early 1990s he branched out into secular themes such as children playing and country landscapes. His paintings now hang at the High Museum of Art and the Smithsonian.
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