Of Armenian descent , Agemian was originally from Bursa , Turkey , and graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia with a Gold Medal Award from the Associazione Artistica in 1926 . During the Armenian Genocide , Agemian witnessed his father get killed . He was then separated from his family and sent to Venice for study . Up to 1931 , he worked and taught in Italy and from 1931 to 1938 in Paris . Agemian was a representative of the school of academic realism and a skillful master of composition . He has painted national themes reflecting the ancient as well as the contemporary history of the Armenian people , frequently inspired by the distinct decorative-allegorical paintings of the Italian Renaissance . Agemian was also a portraitist and a landscapist . He has painted murals with spiritual as well as secular themes . They can be found in Armenian Catholic and Eastern Rite Catholic Churches in France , Italy , Turkey , and in America in New York City , Belmont , and Indian Orchard , Massachusetts . In addition to those works , there are paintings in the Mekhitarist College in Venice , the Monastery on the Island of San Lazzaro degli Armeni and also several homes of friends in the United States
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Ariel Agemian