Luke Shepherd - Biography
Too traditional to be taken seriously at art college, yet too gifted to be ignored, Luke Shepherd has always made portrait busts, working directly in the clay without the need for preliminary drawing.
His name is synonymous with bronze portrait sculpture, with a plethora of commissions over the past 20 years from sitters such as comedian Billy Connolly who sat for 4 hilarious sittings at the Theatre Royal, Bath where a spare dressing room was turned into an impromptu studio.
Other famous sitters include The Late the Rt. Hon Viscount Tonypandy, The Rt. Hon the Lord Crickhowell, Leo Abse and the singer Stuart Burrows to name but a few.
Shepherds bronzes have been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, London and the Academie des Beaux Arts, Paris as well as in the public collection of the National Library of Wales and the University of Wales.
Shepherd strives for both perfection and precision. His work is firmly established in an observational methodology, returning renaissance values whilst maintaining a contemporary mode of expression that exhibits a clear understanding of the sitter, bringing out the enduring qualities of their character. Alongside his commissioned portrait busts, his smaller figurative bronze editions are beginning to be highly prized.
The artist explains ...for the past 22 years I have been studying the human head, fascinated by a desire to unravel its mystery. Each sitter reveals their beauty, unique and elusive. To preserve this moment of understanding and capture it in bronze is my aim in both portraiture and smaller figurative works.
Shepherd has close links with the Royal College of Surgeons of England where he teaches plastic and maxillofacial surgeons the 3-D aspects of their art.


Lukes flare and ability is above all for portrait sculpture, admiring great artists such as Rembrandt, Michelangelo and the Impressionists. He now lives in rural Devon with his wife, Aga and studio.