- Francesco Furini
Francesco Furini (c. 1600 (or 1603) –
August 19 ,1646 ) was an ItalianBaroque painter ofFlorence .His early training was by
Matteo Rosselli (whose other pupils includeLorenzo Lippi andBaldassare Franceschini ), though Furini is also described as influenced byDomenico Passignano andGiovanni Biliverti (Cantelli 1972). He befriendedGiovanni da San Giovanni . Traveling toRome in 1619, he also would have been exposed to the influence ofCaravaggio and his followers. Among his pupils areSimone Pignoni (1611-98) [ Wittkower p 1993:345] andGiovanni Battista Galestruzzi . At the age of forty, he became a priest for the parish of Sant'Ansano in Mugello.Furini's work reflects the tension faced by the conservative, mannerist style of Florence when confronting then novel
Baroque styles. He is a painter of biblical and mythological set-pieces with a strong use of the mistysfumato technique. In the 1630s, when he became a priest, his style paralleled that ofGuido Reni .Freedberg describes Furini's style as filled with "morbid sensuality". His frequent use of disrobed females is discordant with his excessive religious sentimentality, and his polished stylization and poses are at odds with his aim of expressing highly emotional states. His stylistic choices did not go unnoticed by more puritanical contemporary biographers like Baldinucci. Pignoni also mirrored this style in his works.
One of his masterpieces, and not reflective of the style of his canvases, is the airy fresco in
Palazzo Pitti , where on order ofFerdinando II de Medici , between 1639-1642, Furini frescoed two large lunettes depicting the "Platonic Academy of Careggi" and the "Allegory of the Death of Lorenzo the Magnificent". The frescoes can be seen as a response toPietro da Cortona , who was at work in the palazzo during these years (Cantelli 1972).In Robert Browning's series of poems titled "Parleyings with certain people of importance in their day", the poet envisions an explanation by Furini that refutes the published assertion by
Filippo Baldinucci that (on his deathbed) he had ordered all his nude paintings be destroyed. For Browning, Furini's disrobement of his subjects is emblematic of a courageous search for the hidden truth. Modern research has demonstrated that Furini did not abandon his sensual painting subjects on entering the priesthood.Furini was rediscovered in the early twentieth century by
Arturo Stanghellini . [Stanghellini, "Francesco Furini, "Vita d'Arte" 13 [1913). ] His scantily documented career was sketched by Elena Toesca ("Furini", 1950) and brought into focus with an exhibition of his drawings at theUffizi , 1972. [The exhibition catalogue by Giuseppe Cantelli , "Disegni di Francesco Furini e del suo ambiente" (Florence: Oschki) 1972. Cantelli attributed seventy-two drawings in the Uffizi to his hand. Documents published by Gino Corti in "Antichità Viva" (Match-April 1971) appeared too late to be assimilated in the exhibition. Soon after, A. Barsanti recovered more biographical detail to flesh out the modest armature of dates in "Una vita inedita del Furini", "Paragone" 289, (1974), pp. 67-86.]Anthology of works
*"Cephalus and Aurora" (before 1626, Museo de Arte, Ponce) [Often published as by Jacopo Vignali, reattributed to Furini by Cantelli 1972 (cat. no. 2).]
*"Hylas and the Nymphs", (shortly before 1633, Galleria Furini, Florence)
*"Faith", (1638,Palazzo Pitti )
*"St John the Evangelist", (1630s, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon)
*"The Birth of Rachel", (Alte Pinakothek , Munich)
*"Judith and Holofernes", (1636,Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica , Rome)
*" Lot and his Daughters", (Museo del Prado , Madrid)
*"Bound Andromeda", (Hermitage, St Petersburg)
*"Bound Andromeda", (National Galleries, Budapest, Hungary) [http://amweb.free.fr/andart/fr/txt/17_ita3.htm]
*"Crucifixion with angels, Saint Bartholemew, Saint John, and Mary Magdalen", (San Bartolomeo,Todiano in Preci ) [http://www.umbrarte.com/list/160501.htm]
*"Penitent Magdalen" [http://www.staatsgalerie.de/gemaeldeundskulpturen/ita_rundg.php?id=8]
* Frescoes, Salone, Palazzo Pitti (documented 1639-42, Museo degli Argenti)
*"The Three Graces", (Hermitage, St Petersburg)
*"Saint Sebastian" (Schleissheim Palace )Notes
References
*Cantelli, G., & Furini, F. (1972). "Disegni di Francesco Furini: e del suo ambiente". Firenze: Olschki. OCLC|2045642
*cite book | first= Sydney J.| last= Freedberg| year=1993| title= Painting in Italy, 1500-1600| chapter= | editor= Pelican History of Art| others= | pages=344-345 Penguin Books Ltd| publisher= | id= | url= | authorlink=
* [http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/f/furini/ Web Gallery of Art entry.]
*cite book | first= Rudolf|last= Wittkower| year=1993| title= Pelican History of Art, Art and Architecture Italy, 1600-1750| editor= | others=1980 | pages= 345 | publisher= Penguin Books Ltd| id= | url= | authorlink=
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