A Homecoming for Pier Francesco Foschi

Georgia Museum of Art show opens in Florence, Italy

Pier Francesco Foschi (1502 – 1567) was a Florentine through and through.

He first trained with his father and then joined the workshop of Andrea del Sarto, one of the leading artists in Florence and perhaps the most influential painter of the Renaissance. Foschi spent his career in his hometown, where prominent families commissioned him to paint portraits and devotional images. Many of his works can be found in churches around the city.

In November 2023, on the heels of groundbreaking, scholarly research carried out at the Georgia Museum of Art, the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence presented the first exhibition devoted to Foschi in Europe.

Nelda Damiano, the Georgia Museum of Art’s Pierre Daura Curator of European Art, came to her job at the University of Georgia with an appreciation for Foschi. Her doctoral degree focused on Italian Renaissance art and her previous job was at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, in Jacksonville, Florida, which has a stunning Foschi portrait in its collection. She spearheaded the exhibition “Wealth and Beauty: Pier Francesco Foschi and Renaissance Florence,” which was on view in Athens in early 2022 and was the first museum exhibition in the world focusing on the artist.

In the process of organizing the exhibition and putting together its catalogue (the first widely available and comprehensive publication on the artist), Damiano made many contacts in Florence, including Cecilie Hollberg, the director of the Accademia. They agreed that it would be ideal to have a parallel show in Foschi’s hometown, especially given the fragile state of some of his centuries-old paintings. The catalogue for the show in Athens reproduced images of frescos and altarpieces that were unable to make the trip across the Atlantic, but in Florence, visitors could just walk around the city to get their true fill of Foschi.

Hollberg worked with Damiano, Elvira Altiero (at the Accademia) and Simone Giordani (professor of art history and Foschi specialist) to assemble the Florentine version of the exhibition. Best known as the home of Michelangelo’s David, the Accademia attracted more than 2 million visitors in 2023 and is the second most visited museum in Italy.

“The objective of such an extensive and accurate exposition is to provide for the first time in Europe the tools to understand the artistic personality of a master like Foschi and his role in the context of 16th-century Florentine painting,” said Hollberg. “Thanks to our exhibition, in addition to showing forgotten works, important restoration operations have been activated on paintings located in various places in the area, such as one of the altarpieces in the Church of Santo Spirito in Florence.”

Damiano wrote for the Accademia’s catalogue and traveled to Florence to assist with the installation of the show. “Just like in Athens, it was exciting to open each crate and see the paintings and drawings slowly come to life in the galleries,” said Damiano. “Especially impressive were the large-size altarpieces that normally live in churches but that were now easily viewable, with state-of-the-art lighting.”

“Working together with the Galleria dell’Accademia to honor Foschi in his native city and introduce him to audiences from around the world has been an amazing experience,” she added. “Some of the most rewarding aspects of my work is to build ties with colleagues and other institutions, to share research and knowledge and offer visitors opportunities to discover lesser-known artists. I hope those goals were met!"

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