Gheorghe Petrașcu was a Romanian painter. He won numerous prizes throughout his lifetime and had his paintings exhibited posthumously at the Paris International Exhibition and the Venice Biennale. He was the brother of N. Petrașcu, a literary critic and novelist.
In 1936, Petrașcu was elected a titular member of the Romanian Academy.
He was born in Tecuci, Romania, in a family with cultural traditions. His parents were small owners from Fălciu County, Costache Petrovici-Rusciucliu and his wife Elena, maiden name Bițu-Dumitriu. Brother of the diplomat, writer and literary and art critic Nicolae Petrașcu, Gheorghe Petrașcu shows artistic inclinations as a young man, doing his first studies at the National University of Arts in Bucharest. At the recommendation of Nicolae Grigorescu, he receives a scholarship to improve abroad. After a short time in Munich, he left for Paris, where he enrolled at the Académie Julian and worked in Bouguereau's studio. From his first personal exhibition at the Romanian Athenaeum, he was noticed by the writers Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea and Alexandru Vlahuță, who bought him a work.