Francesco Furini (c. 1600 (or 1603) – August 19, 1646) was an Italian Baroque painter of

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

, noted for his sensual sfumato style in paintings of both secular and religious subjects.

Biography

He was born in Florence to an artistic family. His father, Filippo, was a portrait painter; his sister Alessandra also became a painter; and another sister, Angelica, was a singer in the court of

Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo II de' Medici (12 May 1590 – 28 February 1621) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1609 until his death. He was the elder son of Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Christina of Lorraine. For the majority of his twelve-y ...

.Langmuir 2008 Furini's early training was by

Matteo Rosselli Matteo Rosselli (10 August 1578 – 18 January 1650) was an Italian painter of the late Florentine Counter- Mannerism and early Baroque. He is best known however for his highly populated grand-manner historical paintings. Biography He first app ...

(whose other pupils include

Lorenzo Lippi Lorenzo Lippi (3 May 1606 – 15 April 1665) was an Italian painter and poet. Biography Born in Florence, he studied painting under Matteo Rosselli. Both Baldassare Franceschini and Francesco Furini were also apprenticed with Rosselli, the ...

and Baldassare Franceschini), though Furini is also described as influenced by

Domenico Passignano Domenico Passignano (1559 – 17 May 1638), born Domenico Cresti or Crespi, was an Italian painter of a late- Renaissance or Counter-''Maniera'' (Counter-Mannerism) style that emerged in Florence towards the end of the 16th century. Biography ...

and Giovanni Biliverti.Cantelli 1972 He befriended

Giovanni da San Giovanni Giovanni da San Giovanni (20 March 1592 – 9 December 1636), also known as Giovanni Mannozzi, was an Italian painter of the early Baroque period, active in Florence. Biography Born in San Giovanni Valdarno, he trained under Matteo Rosselli. ...

. Traveling to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 1619, he also would have been exposed to the influence of Caravaggio and his followers. Among his pupils are Simone Pignoni and Giovanni Battista Galestruzzi. Furini's work reflects the tension faced by the conservative,

mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...

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 misty sfumato technique. In the 1630s his style paralleled that of Guido Reni. An important early work, ''Hylas and the Nymphs'' (1630), features six female nudes that attest to the importance Furini placed upon drawing from life. Furini became a priest in 1633 for the parish of Sant'Ansano in Mugello.Cappelletti 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 The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present ...

, where on order of

Ferdinando II de' Medici Ferdinando II de' Medici (14 July 1610 – 23 May 1670) was grand duke of Tuscany from 1621 to 1670. He was the eldest son of Cosimo II de' Medici and Maria Maddalena of Austria. He was remembered by his contemporaries as a man of culture a ...

, between 1639 and 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 to Pietro da Cortona, who was at work in the palazzo during these years. Furini traveled to Rome again in the year before his death in 1646.

Legacy

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 20th century by . His scantily documented career was sketched by Elena Toesca (''Furini'', 1950) and brought into focus with an exhibition of his drawings at the

Uffizi The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...

, 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.

References

Sources

*Campbell, Malcolm (1972). "Francesco Furini Drawings at the Uffizi". ''The Burlington Magazine'', 114 (833), 571–570. *Cantelli, G., & Furini, F. (1972). ''Disegni di Francesco Furini: e del suo ambiente''. Firenze: Olschki. *Cappelletti, Francesca. "Furini, Francesco." ''Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online''. Oxford University Press, * *Langmuir, Erika (2008). "Francesco Furini. Florence". ''The Burlington Magazine'', 150 (1263), 431–433.
Web Gallery of Art entry.
*

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Furini, Francesco 1600s births 1646 deaths 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Painters from Florence Italian Baroque painters