Francesca Anderson was born on Long Island, New York, and was influenced by her grandmother and mother, both of whom loved art. From an early age she has been inspired by stories about various pieces of art. She was 16 when she bought her first piece of art, on Madison Avenue in New York City. The gallery was a snooty, annoying place because they insisted on calling Francesca’s mother, when she had her checkbook right with her and was perfectly able to purchase it on her own. It seemed as if they didn’t trust her. From that moment forward, Francesca vowed never to discriminate against the young, or the very old for that matter.
Although Francesca went to school in NYC, or maybe because of it, she is not a city person and prefers the country. She loves animals, has a wonderful sweet black lab, Ruby, and she loves birds and hopes to study them in the future. Strangely, she is an introvert, which means she re-charges by being alone. She has trained herself to be more extroverted because of her gallery. Hopefully that has worked !
After college Francesca moved back to Boston to get an internship in restoration as she was an intern at the Smithsonian Conservation Laboratory her senior year in college. Francesca was taught the hot wax method on an 18th century painting ! Because of that awesome internship, she became quite interested in a career in painting restoration or conservation. Francesca secured an internship in Arlington, MA with the Conservator for the Fogg. While waiting for that internship to start, she received an invitation from James, the owner of a Newbury St Gallery: “Francesca, please be my Assistant Director”.
Francesca worked there at Shore Gallery for 2 years and then at a nonprofit gallery on Newbury St, also for 2 years, the Copley Society. A couple of years after that, she began thinking about starting her own gallery as two well known galleries had just closed – not for lack of sales…for personal reasons.
In 1982 Francesca asked one of the best artists in Boston, Loring Coleman, if he would show his work with her if she opened a gallery (the gallery that showed his work had just closed). His answer was “In a heartbeat!” Francesca proceeded to ask six more artists if they would join her gallery and they all said yes.
Go to "Discover" > "Top Stories" > "Wow"