Darryl Nantais was born in 1955 in Huntingdon.
His interest in painting began in his childhood along the banks of the Little and Great Ouse.
When he was twelve he moved to the Norfolk coast and turned his attention to the exciting and dramatic skies.
After leaving home at an early age, he lived in Norwich, where he took it upon himself to study the past masters such as Crome, Cotman and Bright. Instead of painting the Ouse he painted and sketched the Broads and the river Yare.
At eighteen, he began to visit Paris, eventually living and painting in the city for about a year.
Returning to England he decided to open an antique shop in Lincolnshire with the aim of turning it into an art gallery. After a few years he dismissed the idea and went back to live in France on the Normandy~Brittany border. It was here he was inspired to reflect over childhood memories and observations. The coming years would prove to be an intense time of study.
During the time he lived in France he met and worked with the then eighty-year-old Eduard Palmare; an old colleague of Miro and Picasso. They had all exhibited together at the Salon d'Hiver in the 1950s. Darryl was almost tempted by a contract to paint exclusively for a well known Parisian gallery but decided to return to England where he began teaching and working for an agency copying Old Master Paintings.
On returning to Cambridgeshire he founded and successfully ran his own gallery for more than a decade. Today, he works from his home studio. Another gallery called the Darryl Nantais Gallery has been opened at 59 High Street, Linton , Cambs.
Nantais' prolific output has been equated with Turner's.
His paintings and published work are increasingly to be found in collections world-wide. He has been guest on local BBC Radio Cambridgeshire a number of times during 1999 to talk about his life and work. A web-site dedicated to Nantais can be found at: http://victorian.fortunecity.com/postmodern/743
Further information about the availability of the artist's work may be obtained here or by writing to The Lothbury Centre.Weston Colville. Cambridgeshire.ENGLAND.
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