Melissa Imossi was born in Long Island, New York in 1969.  At the age of thirty, she decided to pursue art full-time after taking classes in drawing and anatomy at the Art Students’ League in New York. 

Inspired by classical realist art, she moved to Florence, Italy in early 2002 to continue training as an artist at the Angel Academy of Art.  This program is modeled after the Leon Gerome (1824-1904) and Charles Bargue(1826-1883) drawing program, which was the most influential art-education programs in the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Both Picasso and Van Gogh are believed to have studied this program.  At the Angel Academy, and later at other private studios in Florence, Melissa developed the tools necessary to express herself as an artist.  

Melissa currently divides her time between Florence and New York.  Her artwork is in private collections in North America and Europe.