Riccardo Micheletti was born in Roasio, a small town in the Piedmont Region, Italy, on March 18, 1922 and passed over in Borgosesia, Italy, on February 14, 1998.

He studied Art at the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts (Accademia Albertina delle Belle Arti) in Torino, under the guidance of the artists Felice Casorati, Cesare Maggi and Enrico Paolucci and attended the lectures given by the architect Armando Titta.

His first One-man art Exhibition was held in Biella, Italy, where his works were presented by Luigi Boffa Tarlatta, at the Art Gallery Leonardo da Vinci, in 1945.

In February 1948, responding to a congenital aspiration (his father spent more than 20 years in West Africa at the beginning of the 20th century) he moved to Nigeria, where he lived until the year 1982, when he returned to his homeland, Italy, forever, residing in Borgosesia, a town in the Piedmont Region.

His having lived for so long in Nigeria, far from the artistic movements of the period, strongly influenced the evolution and distinctive technique of his palette “which, due to its uniquiness, is difficult to tag” (Gabriele Mandel 1985).

His palette moved from the Piedmontese chromatisms to the vibrant, bright African colours. Back in the ‘60s, his works of art were already been described as having “vivid colours and an impressionistic touch characterize his landscapes and human figures” (Marziano Bernardi 1961); “The chromatic strength and the impetus of the strong constructive spatula in a freedom of touch all of its own…a charming coloured atmosphere which finds its justification in the sunny environment mingled with the colours objects take on, giving the impression of the warmth and harsh life, which are Nigeria" (Luigi Carluccio 1961). In 1985, during the Exhibition “Piemonte in Africa, Riccardo Micheletti”, organized by the Department of Culture for the Piedmont Region at the “Circolo degli Artisti”, housed in the Halls of Palazzo Graneri della Roccia, one of the sumptuous aristocratic residences in the centre of Torino, Gabriele Mandel commented “Riccardo Micheletti.. is spontaneous, passionate and candid, just as Gauguin was. We find in his art something immediately present, something that cannot be catalogued… when he paints his eyes brim over with colour and light… and the love he feels… filters into the images, redimensioning and modifying them. A love for Africa as well as for Piedmont, spontaneous, unsophisticated”.

In Nigeria he not only cultivated his passion for painting, but also had the chance to express his innate artistic streak through sculpture, architecture and tutoring. Moreover, his anthropological and artistic passions laid the basis of his interest in hunting for and collecting tribal art objects and those used in the everyday life by the various ethnic groups.

Thanks to his artistic fame:

• In the town of Gusau, North Westhern Nigeria, he designed the Catholic Church, School Building and Maternity Hospital Complex for the Dominican Fathers of the United States of America, in the first half of the ‘50s. He sculptured the church altar and repaired about twenty statues that had arrived from Italy in pieces. He later painted the Via Crucis and made two large paintings depicting the Last Supper and The Ascension for the Catholic Church of the town of Malunfasci.
  
  
• In Lagos, South Westhern Nigeria, the British Council set up a One-man Exhibition of some of his Works of Art in 1953, and then again in 1965.
  
  
• In Kano, Northern Nigeria, the British Council set up a One-man Exhibition of his paintings and drawings in 1960, and then again in 1966 and in 1975.
  
  
• The Italian Embassy in Nigeria commissioned him to sculpture a bust of General Yakubu Gowon, the military leader and Head of the State of Nigeria at the time, in April 1968, as a tribute from Italy to the General himself.
  
  
• In Kaduna, North Westhern Nigeria, the United States Information Service set up a One-man Exhibition of his paintings, in 1962.
  
  
• The London College of Applied Science of England awarded him the Honorary Distinction of Professor of Science, in Drawing and History of Art on November 16, 1966.
  
  
• In Lagos the Italian Cultural Institute of the Italian Embassy organised a One-man Exibition of some of his paintings and sculpures, in 1968. 
  
  
• The Italian Embassy in Nigeria appointed him Attaché to the Italian Cultural Institute, Fine Arts Section, Kano Branch on January 30, 1969.
  
  
• The Ministry of Education in Kano made him Professor of Painting and History of Arts at the University of Amadu Bello on July 1, 1969. Later, on the personal request of the Governor of Kano at the time, Alhaji Audu Bako, he was assigned to the Ministry of Home Affairs and Information, covering the post of Senior Graphic Arts Officer and, as such, he directed the Artistic Section until October 9, 1975. During this tenure he was commissioned to sculpture the statue of the “Soldier of Peace” which was officially set in place at Idunmota, Lagos in November 1970. Moreover, he was commissioned to sculpture busts and portraits of various Emirs, Governors and Ministers, amongst which that of Sir Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the Prime Minister of Independent Nigeria at the time.
  
  
• The Italian Ambassador in Lagos nominated him Consular Correspondent in the Kano State for the Italian Embassy on September 24,1973.
  
  
• The Director of the Italian Cultural Institute of the Italian Embassy in Lagos organised a One-man Exibition of his paintings, on December 17-24, 1973. At the opening ceremony, Riccardo Micheletti was introduced by Alhaji Umaru Dikko, the Federal Commissioner for Information at the time.
  
  
• The Nigerian Federal Ministry of Information bought 5 of his large paintings in 1979-1980 and, in 1981, a Permanent Exhibition Space was reserved for him at the Lagos Gallery of Modern Art.

During his brief return visits to Italy he took the opportunity to present some of his Works of Art to the Italian public through One-man Exhibitions.

After his permanent return to Italy in 1982, he continued to dedicate himself, until just before his death, to painting and sculpture, portraying landscapes of Piedmont, the human figure and still life, which he went on interpreting with the “colours and light of Nigeria”, that lingered on in his mind’s eye. Indeed, it was those fond memories and emotions from that far-off land, abiding in his heart, that prompted him to go on also painting and sculpting African subjects.

He used to say of himself “I paint because of a deep-rooted need in me and the satisfaction I derive from it”.