Antonio Martino was born in Philadelphia in 1902. Both of his parents had emigrated from Italy. He was one of seven brothers, all of whom would paint as adults. Antonio was interested in art as a child. He took classes at the Graphic Sketch Club as a young man and would eventually move on to study at the Spring Garden Institute, the La France Art Institute and the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts). During this time, Martino began working as an apprentice at the lithography firm, Associated Artists, in Philadelphia.

Martino first exhibited his work when he was seventeen and was immediately successful. He exhibited work at the Art Club of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Sketch Club, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1926, Martino was awarded a bronze medal at the Sesquicentennial International Exposition. Two of the members of the Jury were Edward Redfield and Daniel Garber.

Martino's early landscape paintings, which he painted in Bucks County, are heavily impressionistic. By the 1930s, Martino had moved to Manayunk, a factory town outside of Philadelphia on the banks of the Schuylkill River. He is probably best known for the works he painted of Manayunk. These landscapes and cityscapes featured saturated colors and depict the many hills and buildings of the town. In 1971, Martino moved to Thousand Oaks, California. His style shifted yet again and he began painting landscapes of the Santa Barbara and Westlake Village area of California. These paintings differ from the Manayunk works as they are much brighter and depict marinas and waterfronts.

Martino won numerous awards for his artwork. In fact, he accrued over eighty awards for his paintings. He was a life member of the Water Color Society of New York and the National Academy of Design. His work has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Carnegie Institute. His work in represented in more than twenty-five permanent museum collections including the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Woodmere Art Museum, the Allentown Art Museum and the National Academy of Design among others.

Antonio Martino died September 3, 1988 in California.