Northern Irish painter John Luke studied at the Belfast School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art, London. His stylized landscape and figurative studies drew on the techniques of the Italian Renaissance painters he admired. Luke had his first solo exhibition in Belfast in 1946. In 1950, as part of the Festival of Britain, he was commissioned to paint a mural in the City Hall, Belfast. Luke has completed many public commissions. He taught at the Belfast School of Art from 1953 to 1973.