Above: Fan with a scene in the style of Watteau (second half of the 18th century), mother of pearl and tempera on paper, Capodimonte Museum, Naples.
The American Friends of Capodimonte Board
Cristina Del Sesto, AFC Board President
In collaboration with Director Bellenger and Vincent Buonanno, Cristina Del Sesto defined the AFC mission, identified its first Fellow, and provided board development. She began her career covering the arts for the Washington Post. In 2004, she authored At the Ansonia Hotel: A Broadway Landmark Turns 100 and organized the corresponding exhibition of photography by Tom Wolff at the Municipal Art Society. She served from 2012 to 2021 as Deputy, Corporate Relations Senior Officer in Development at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Cristina received a B.A. in Art History from Georgetown University and M.F.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing from Bennington College. She was an academic visitor at Linacre College, University of Oxford.
Vincent Buonanno, AFC Founder and Former President
Vincent is an avid collector of Italian early modern prints, especially the cartography of Rome. He is former Chairman and CEO of Tempel Steel Co., Chicago, and has served on numerous boards for institutions including the American Academy in Rome, Brown University, as well as the Trustees Council of the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. In 1979 Vincent was decorated as Cavaliere to the Ordine al merito della Repubblica Italiana. He currently resides in Providence, RI.
Nancy Vespoli, AFC Vice Chair
A broad background in science, art and athletics serves Nancy well as Vice Chair. She received degrees in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry from MIT and Dartmouth College, was a research scientist, and a small business co-owner. Nancy traveled the world as an Olympian and volunteered for a number of educational institutions in fundraising, leadership and coaching. She has had a lifelong passion for art and painting. She resides in Jupiter, FL, Connecticut and New Hampshire.
James P. Anno, AFC Program Director
James, the inaugural AFC Post-Doctoral Fellow 2017-19, is an expert of Italian Renaissance and Baroque art with a specialization on Michelangelo. James has published numerous essays on artists from Artemisia Gentileschi to Michelangelo and co-authored the exhibition catalogue Flesh and Blood: Italian Masterpieces from the Capodimonte Museum with Christopher Bakke. He is curator of the exhibition Glory of Spain: Treasures from the Hispanic Society Museum and Library (2020) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH). James received his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. He currently serves as Associate Curator of European Art at the MFAH.
Gretchen Hirschauer, AFC Secretary
Gretchen is a Curator of Italian and Spanish Paintings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. This collection spans the years from about 1250 to about 1800, from the Early Byzantine to Tiepolo and beyond. In her decades at the National Gallery she has curated many exhibitions with accompanying catalogues, including the Flowering of Florence: Botanical Art of the Medici in 2002, Luis Meléndez: Master of the Spanish Still Life in 2009, Piero di Cosimo: the Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence in 2015, and Andrea del Verrocchio: Sculptor and Painter of Renaissance Florence in 2019.
Mary Ellen Countryman, AFC Treasurer
A senior U.S. diplomat recently retired, M.E. served two presidents as White House and National Security Council Spokesman. She counts as highlights of her 30-year foreign service career her postings as Consul General — the U.S.’s top official — in Naples and in Florence. Her other overseas posts included Rome, Milan, Tokyo, Rangoon, St. Petersburg and Jakarta. A native of Washington State, M.E. was awarded a B.A. from the University of Washington and an M.I.A. from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Victoria Gath
Victoria Gath is a psychotherapist living in London. For many years Victoria worked in the criminal justice system in various capacities, most recently as a therapist. She also worked as student counsellor at the Royal College of Art. Currently she is providing psychotherapy for a theatre company and in private practice. Victoria graduated from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge with a degree in Italian and Russian, focusing on Dante and Tuscan art. She subsequently worked for the art publisher Thames and Hudson where she specialised in Russian art. Outside of her work, she has a particular interest in art, theatre and opera. She has travelled widely and has lived and worked in both Italy and Russia.
Henrietta Paige Hakes
Henrietta currently serves as a director for a construction company and pursues her passion for art and history as a collector of books on the reception of ancient Greek art and literature from the Renaissance to today. In the past she served as a Development Officer and interim Chief Operating Officer at the Paideia Institute, a non-profit that promotes Latin and ancient Greek education, and worked as an curatorial assistant at the Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins in France. She holds a B.A. in Ancient Greek from Swarthmore College and a M.St. in Classical Archaeology from Oxford University.
Bart F. Livolsi
Bartley F. Livolsi, a veteran of 46 years on Wall Street as an investment banker, retired at the end of 2019. During his 36 years at Citi Global Markets Inc, he held numerous positions including Managing Director in charge of US Regional Banking, Product Group Banking and ultimately Head of Infrastructure Public-Private Partnership Finance. He is a past board member of the Columbus Citizens Foundation, New York Municipal Forum, Florida Water Management Institute and Cardinal Hayes High School. He is a trustee of Iona College and a board member of the Loggerhead Marinelife Center of Juno Beach, FL.
Francis G.M. Prins
Francis received her Master’s Degree in History of Art, from Groningen University in the Netherlands. During her graduate studies, she received a scholarship for research at the Netherlands Interuniversity Institute for Art History (NIKI), Florence. Her areas of interest were Italian architecture and urbanism. Since 1989 she has lived and worked in Tuscany and has been engaged in interior design, where she had her own business. Fluent in several languages and passionate about Italian architecture, Francis currently assists foreigners with the purchase and the restoration of real estate.
Sylvain Bellenger, Former Director of Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte and AFC Co-Founder
Sylvain Bellenger served as Director General of the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte from November 2015 to December 2023. Previously, he was Searle Chair and Curator of the Department of Medieval through Modern European Painting and Sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago (2012-2015), Chief Curator of National Patrimony at the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art in Paris (2005-2010), and Chair and Curator of the Department of European and American Painting and Sculpture at the Cleveland Museum of Art (1999-2005). A recipient of prestigious fellowships at Yale University, CASVA (Center of Advanced Studies in Visual Arts) National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, and the Getty Research Institute, Bellenger also directed the Musée Girodet (1987-1991), and the Château and Museums of Blois (1992-1999) in France. Born in Normandy, he studied Philosophy and Art History at the Universities of Caen, Nanterre, the Sorbonne, and Ecole du Louvre.
Maestro Riccardo Muti, Former Honorary President
Maestro Muti, one of the world’s greatest living conductors, was born in Naples and studied at the Conservatorio di Musica San Pietro a Majella in Naples. He is currently the Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, but he remains proud of his Neapolitan heritage and is an ideal bridge between America and Naples.