Chen Yanning was born in Guangzhou, China in 1945.Chen graduated from the Guangzhou Academy of Art in 1965.He was a professional painter at Guangdong Art Institute from 1970 to 1986 and received numerous awards during the period.In 1987, his work was exhibited in The Contemporary Oil Painting from the People's Republic of China held in New York.In 1987 and 1989, he had two successful solo exhibitions presented by the Hefner Gallery in New York. In 1988, he graduated from the Oklahoma City University and was engaged as an instructor at the Art Department of the university.In 1991, he won the national prize in a portraiture competition held by the Federation of British Artists in UK.Since then, he has been making portraits for the royal family and the aristocracies, for which he was highly acclaimed.From 1992 to 1994, his works were exhibited as an artist at the Portrait Centre of America.In 1998, his work was exhibited at the China 5000 Year exhibition at the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in New York.In 1999, he was commissioned to do a portrait for Queen Elizabeth in the Buckingham Palace. He has had many solos and group exhibitions in Australia, Brazil, the UK, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Singapore and the US.And his works are in the permanent collection of the China National Gallery, the West Australia National Gallery, the California State Capital Museum and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and are also in private collections in the US, Singapore, Japan and Europe.