DORU IMBROANE MARCULESCU was born in Bucharest, Romania, in 1953, at a time when his parents had passed through a period of great change and adjustment caused by the political events which overtook Eastern Europe following World War II. Both parents had come from families with old and strong traditions, going back to Stephen the Great' s XVth century-with the TOPOR branch of the family.

This background was intrinsically reflected in the part the family always played in developing the religious, artistic, scientific and political life of their country. For example, one of Doru's ancestor's was Bishop Isaia Balosescu of Bucovina, who was responsible for much of that country's restructuring of the education system at the beginning of the XIX-th century. In this century, Doru's grandfather, Dr. Avram Imbroane, was Minister of Religious Affairs and Deputy President of the House of Parliament, and one of the principal architects of modern Romania, in 1918. Sensing the need to retain these ideals and values for their children, Doru's parents, Georgetta and Paul (Georgetta had three Master's Degree in Law, History and French & German Languages and Paul Marculescu had also three Master's Degree in Law, Music and Sport) created an atmosphere where academic achievement could be attained, whilst, at the same time, a freedom of intellectual and artistic expression was nurtured - in a natural manner and as a sine qua non unspoken condition.

Living in the very heart of the City, they kept an "open house" to like-thinking people, and thus, Doru, from a very early age, was surrounded by exciting ideas and thoughts, which captured his imagination. His Godfather was the painter, sculptor and writer, Baron George von Lovendal, and an elderly painter aunt Maria Topor von Tarnovietchi, lived with the family; from these Doru received his first formal lessons in the art that he loves so passionately. Starting with the age of 4 he began painting in oils, and from 6 years he began to sculpt. Since the age of 10, Doru has been extremely interested in philosophy and theoretical psychology; on one hand as an innate necessity in the search for categories reflecting, on different degrees of depth, a demand for " wholeness " - as suggested by our psyche, and on the other hand, as applied to aesthetics. Some of the perennial aspects of Plato's theory of Ideas and Schopenhauer' s views on aesthetics and on Kant's work had a particular influence. They transcended the realm of abstract theory and, by replacing the different common concepts of " order " by a concept of " sense " as to apply to ascending " hierarchies " found a very concrete representation in his work of art. All these turned out to be a most natural preparation for the subsequent (quintessential) Christian development which started at the age of 12 (main sources: The Bible, St. Augustine and Pascal).

By the age of 13 he had staged two successful exhibitions in Bucharest, and the critics were already remarking on the maturity, intriguing power and thoughtful sadness which characterizes his work (e.g. the sequence of paintings inspired by Sophocles' Electra and Ibsen' s Hedda Gabler).

In 1972 Doru took his Baccalaureate and had to make a choice of career, between his love of the creative arts and his other "passion" - Mathematics. On the basis of being able to have the best of both worlds by such a choice, he entered the Faculty of Mathematics in Bucharest University. (N.B. In 1976 as part of a psychology exam at university, Doru wrote a study on the interconnections between Van Gogh' s art and a certain trend towards a "mathematical" way of thinking he has noticed in Van Gogh' s artistic evolution, as reflected in his forty-five self-portraits).

In 1978, after obtaining the Master's Degree with the maximum mark, Doru was honoured to be invited by the eminent mathematician Professor Ciprian Foias to commence research studies leading to a doctorate. However, at this time Doru was able to emigrate from Romania to settle in England.

He arrived in England in October 1978. After a period of teaching mathematics, when he improved his knowledge of English considerably, he registered at King's College, London University, to continue the research studies that he had interrupted and under the guidance of Dr. John Erdos, Doru received his PhD in Pure Mathematics in 1984.

By 1986 Doru had obtained dual British / Romanian nationality. Whilst firmly established in England, he continued to spend periods with his family in Bucharest consolidating all his interests and ideas - producing work which became part of a large personal exhibition.