Renzo Vespignani (Rome, 1924 – 2001) was a prominent figure in 20th-century Italian painting and printmaking. A self-taught artist, he began drawing during the harsh years of the Nazi occupation of Rome, early on revealing an extraordinary talent for depicting the raw and painful reality of his time.

His early artistic phase was deeply rooted in Neorealism. Vespignani became the visual poet of the Roman outskirts: his favorite subjects were working-class neighborhoods like Portonaccio, construction sites, railway tracks, and faces marked by poverty and war. In these works, influenced by the German Expressionism of George Grosz and Otto Dix, the urban landscape serves as a mirror of the human condition.

During the 1950s and 60s, his work evolved toward sharper social critique. He was among the founders of the magazine Città Aperta and the art group "Il Pro e il Contro," becoming a landmark for socially engaged art. Over the decades, his style grew more refined and complex, exploring themes such as the decadence of the bourgeoisie and consumerism, while always maintaining the precise linework that established him as one of Europe’s greatest engravers.

His works have been exhibited in major institutions worldwide, from the Venice Biennale to the Rome Quadrenniale, and are now held in prestigious international museums, including the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome and the MoMA in New York.