Pino Daeni was born Guiseppe Dangelico in Italy in 1939. He trained at the Art Institute of Bari, and later at Milan’s Academy of Brera. Heavily influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites and Macchiaioli, Pino studied the human figure and perfected his skills painting nudes. His canvases breathe with feelings of warmth, nostalgia and family love. After doing several exhibitions in Italy and Europe, he was commissioned to do book illustrations by Italy’s two largest publishers, Mondadori and Rizzoli. In search of more artistic opportunity and freedom, he immigrated to the United States in 1979. After doing a book cover for Zebra Book Publishers, he decided to pursue the illustrator in him, later becoming the artist for other publishers like Bantam, Simon and Schuster, Harlequin, and Penguin USA. On May 25, 2010, Pino passed away.