Ella W. Richardson Fine Art has been bringing renowned and award-winning artists from around the world to Charleston for a quarter century. The gallery’s catalog offerings range from realism to contemporary works and include photography, porcelains, jewelry, bronzes and etchings. Periodically, the gallery also features works by celebrated Charleston Renaissance artists, such as Alfred Hutty and Elizabeth O’Neill Verner.

Featured here are three oil paintings by Florida artist Matt Aufderheide. After receiving his degree, Aufderheide worked for a year with a graphic design firm in New York City. He then departed for Europe and toured extensively.

He spent much of his time sketching and studying artworks in major museums, as well as observing Roman art and architecture, which became of particular interest to him during his travels. While abroad, Aufderheide was also inspired by the natural, breathtaking landscapes of the Old World; the Italian and Swiss countrysides would later become recurring themes in many of his works.

Today, Aufderheide strives to connect his work to the older traditions of Western art, drawing inspiration from Renaissance, baroque, and nineteenth-century academic traditions.