Furio Rinaldi

Furio Rinaldi

David and Julie Tobey Fellow
The Drawings of Sandro Botticelli
2022-2023 (September-December)
Furio Rinaldi

Biography

Furio Rinaldi is Curator of drawings and prints in the The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. An expert on fifteenth and sixteenth century Italian drawings—particularly the schools of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo—Rinaldi has authored many publications and organized exhibitions on the subject. He received a fellowship at the Fondazione Roberto Longhi, Florence (2010-11) and an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2012-13). His curatorial experience includes positions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, and, prior to joining the Fine Arts Museums, he was VP Specialist of Old Master and nineteenth-century drawings at Christie’s, New York.

 

Project Summary

The work of Sandro Botticelli (c. 1445-1510) is intrinsically tied to the art of drawing. As the consummate master of line, the artist adopted this graphic tool both in his design process and as an element central to his aesthetic. The incessant ‘rhythm of the line’ (as defined by Bernard Berenson, 1903) represents the dynamic force behind the many artworks that are quintessential imagery of the Italian Renaissance. While the fundamental exercise of disegno constituted the linchpin of Botticelli’s creative process and workshop practice, his drawings have never been comprehensively studied. This research is leading the preparation of an exhibition scheduled at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco for 2023.