The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco have announced the appointment of Esther Bell to curator in charge of European paintings. She succeeds Lynn Orr.

Bell specializes in 17th- and 18th-century European painting and is currently curator of European painting, drawing, and sculpture at the Cincinnati Art Museum. A former Fulbright scholar, she received a doctorate degree from the Institute of Fine Arts in New York.

Bell brings more than a decade of experience to the Fine Arts Museums and has held positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Morgan Library & Museum, among other institutions.

She is scheduled to begin her new role in September.