Michele Vitaloni's ability to express his passion for art and nature in his sculpture and paintings has pushed him to the front rank of artists dealing with the natural world today. He specialises in wildfowl and has been exhibited internationally, with many of his creations now in the hands of some of the foremost collectors in the field.

His works have sold at auction at Christie's alongside such eminent artists as Sir Alfred Munnings, Robert Bateman and David Shepherd. From an early age, he expressed his interest in nature through the medium of drawing, although he is now well-known for his technical innovations in sculpture and relief.

Born in Milan in 1967, Vitaloni has become a serious naturalist through his studies and experiences in the field. His formal artistic education began at Milan's Istituto Europeo di Design, where he completed a diploma in nature illustration.

For 10 years from 1987, Vitaloni was Editor and Illustrator of "L'Orsa" magazine, the first Italian nature monthly for young people, which published features on habitats around the world, such as Pantanal in Brazil, Coto Donana in Spain, Okavango in Botswana and Madagacar.

Since 1994, Vitaloni has worked with the Italian branch of the WWF on a project to reintroduce endangered wildfowl species into the country. His interest in endangered species led him to spend time in 1995 at Wildfowl and Wetland Trust (WWT) and the International Wetland Research Bureau at Slimbridge in the UK as a result of which he participated in an exhibition organised by the WWT.

In the years that have followed, Vitaloni's hyper-realistic - but also emotionally engaging - works have been increasingly sought after and he has been exhibited both in the company of other distinguished wildlife artists and solo in London, Milan, Turin and in the Netherlands.

Vitaloni lives and works in the hills above Lake Como in northern Italy, surrounded by natural beauty and in the company of his wife and three sons.