Francis Borelli

Francis Borelli was an artist or draftsman active during a defined period between 1935 and 1936. During this time, Borelli contributed significantly to the Index of American Design (IAD), a major New Deal project focused on documenting historical American decorative arts, folk traditions, and craftsmanship. Fifteen documented works attributed to Borelli are represented in institutional collections.

Borelli’s contribution centered on precise documentation of historical artifacts, capturing objects ranging from furniture to metalwork. Key examples of the detailed renderings held in museum collections include a Card Table, a Desk Box, and a Pewter Pitcher. Further works, such as the documentation of an Iron and Brass Candlestand and a Jug, illustrate the IAD’s meticulous focus on recording historically significant functional objects.

The documentation produced by Borelli is preserved in the collections of the National Gallery of Art. As the Index of American Design was a federal project, much of the visual documentation frequently resides in the public domain, ensuring widespread access for researchers and historians. The technical detail present in the original drawings means that high-quality prints of Francis Borelli’s work are utilized frequently for scholarly and curatorial purposes today.