Riccardo Benvenuti biography

Riccardo Benvenuti was an Italian painter. He was born in Lucca in 1939 and began his career as an artist at a very young age.
He graduates from the Passaglia Institute where he will return years later as a teacher of Painting, Art History, and Figurine. He will continue teaching in various schools in the province of Lucca until 1985, and it is precisely during these years that his activity as an artist becomes prolific and recognized in different parts of the world.
In 1958, he organized his first solo art exhibition at the Circolo Ufficiali di Lucca. From here, many paths opened up for the artist, leading him in 1974 to organize and set up an exhibition for the fiftieth anniversary of Giacomo Puccini, commissioned by the Puccini Foundation and held at the Lincoln Center Metropolitan in New York, Chicago, and Madrid.
Riccardo Benvenuti collaborated with Salvador Dalì in the creation of the Medaglia dell'Augurio, which was later minted by the Gold Market of Milan.
The artist was also the author of several posters created for various sporting events such as the Boxing Championships, the World Cup, the Los Angeles Olympics, and the Giro d'Italia.
In 1980, he created many liturgical paintings in various Tuscan churches, the most famous of which is Santa Rita a Margine Coperto (Montecatini Terme), where he oversaw the refurbishment or modification of many of the interior murals.
Since the 90s, Riccardo Benvenuti has started collaborating with the publishing house Einaudi, for which he created the illustrations for the book Gnenco the Pirate, a artwork by Vincenzo Pardini.
The publishing house Mondadori Associati dedicated a monograph to him in 1991, with a preface by Paolo Levi, which retraces his entire artistic career up to that point.
Riccardo Benvenuti was also an excellent Italian set designer. In fact, in 2000 he created the sets for the film Metronotte, starring Diego Abatantuono.
The following year, on the occasion of the centenary of Giuseppe Verdi's passing, he organizes a personal exhibition dedicated to the musician, sponsored by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and the Italian Embassy, which invite him to Kenya to attend the event.
As a representative of Puccini, Ricardo Benvenuti exhibits at the Museo Nacional "Oficina del Historiador" in Old Havana, in May 2003, his artwork dedicated to "The Women of Puccini and the Landscapes of Music".
The same year, in the month of September, he presents in Lisbon the solo exhibition "Fado, Faces and Landscapes", held at the Museu Casa do Fado e da Guitarra Portuguesa.
Between 2003 and 2004, he was commissioned by Costa Crociere to create some decorative panels to furnish the largest ships in the fleet: Costa Fortuna and Costa Magica.
In the same year, Riccardo Benvenuti is also the Italian representative at the European Football Championships in Portugal, an honor awarded to him by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In Portugal, he also organizes a series of artistic events titled "Italy of Culture Takes the Field" and "The Dream of Football in the Casa Azzurri", both held in Lisbon.
In September 2004, he is responsible for the exhibition "Butterfly", dedicated to the centenary of the artwork Madama Butterfly by the master composer Giacomo Puccini, of whom Benvenuti is now the official representative. The exhibition is initially set up in the Museum of the Cathedral of Lucca, to be subsequently moved to Palazzo Panciatichi in Florence.
In 2006, Riccardo Benvenuti was invited by the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino as the artistic representative of the event Benvenuto Brunello, for which he created the celebratory image still present on the facade of the Palazzo Civico di Montalcino.
In June 2006, he created the solo exhibition The Emotion of Football, held at Casa Azzurri in Duisburg, Germany. On that occasion, he also designed the poster celebrating the victory of the Italian National Football Team at the World Cup held that year.
On the occasion of the Bicentennial of Giuseppe Garibaldi's birth, Riccardo Benvenuti is commissioned to create a portrait dedicated to the figure of the leader, for the traveling exhibition "Garibaldi tra storia e mito - Garibaldi between history and myth", which showcased various historical relics, paintings, and objects from that period.
In 2009, he was commissioned to paint the banner of the Palio della Balestra, thus celebrating the two allegories of the cities of Sansepolcro and Gubbio.
Riccardo Benvenuti is once again tasked with setting up an exhibition dedicated to Puccini, celebrating the centenary of the musician. The exhibition is set up in the Museo della cattedrale di Lucca, under the patronage of the Municipality. Subsequently, thanks to the patronage of the Tuscany Region, the same exhibition is set up at Palazzo Panciatichi in Florence in December 2004.
Also in 2004, he created the portrait of Varenne, a painting used by SNAI as a logo to print the tickets for the Lotteria Gran Premio di Agnano, held in 2005.
On the occasion of the Information Day, held in September 2007, the artist was received by the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano, to whom he donated one of his paintings, commissioned by the UNCI (Unione Nazionale Cronisti Italiani).
Riccardo Benvenuti was a versatile artist who worked in various parts of the world, mainly in Lucca but also in New York, Paris, Miami, Los Angeles, where he traveled multiple times during his career. His artwork is mainly remembered for the women he portrayed, beautiful, enigmatic, elegant, seductive, made splendid by the skillful use of light and shadow that create an almost magical atmosphere.
Riccardo Benvenuti died in 2018.