The field of studies of women artists is ever-growing with many names discovered, researched and exhibited every year. A lot of the research is focused on later artistic periods, when opportunities started to open up for women and more information is available. However, women have always painted and many of us now know the names of Sofonisba Anguissola and Artemisia Gentileschi. But I was recently wondering, who was the first known female artist of the Renaissance?
It is widely believed that Sister Plautilla Nelli was the first prominent woman artist of the time, and certainly the first to produce large scale religious commissions. She was one of the few female painters to be mentioned by Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Artists, where he praised her talent and said that her works could be found in many houses of the Florentine elite. She was born in January 1524 into a wealthy family in the San Felice area of Florence, and was named Pulisena Margherita Nelli. Her father was a successful fabric merchant and her ancestors originated from the Tuscan valley area of Mugello, as did the famous Medici family. After the death of her mother and her father's second marriage, she entered the Dominican convent of Santa Caterina di Cafaggio aged 14. She was given the name of Sister Plautilla. In fact, around 50% of educated girls of the time were sent to convents to avoid raising dowries, so Pulisena's story was not unusual. Her sister, Constanza, also entered the same convent and became a famous renowned scribe, famous for transcribing Vita di Frate, the biography of Savonarola, which is still in print today.
The Renaissance was a time of great artistic progress, especially in Florence, but painting was a male profession primarily accessible through the apprenticeship route. Women were forbidden to join as apprentices and were typically confined to creating miniatures for their own use. The small number of women who managed to become artists were either daughters of painters or came from wealthy and supportive families. However, her role as a nun offered a unique opportunity for Plautilla. She entered a convent that still followed the principal teachings of Savonarola. He promoted devotional painting and drawing by religious women as a tool of avoiding sloth. As a result, her convent became renowned for its nun-artists, creating a vital art community and sisterhood for Plautilla. It is believed that she learnt by observing and closely studying artworks by famous masters, including Agnolo Bronzino and Andrea del Sarto. It is important to note that at the time she joined the convent, there were no specific rules prohibiting her leaving the confines of the monastery to study art in Florence. In addition, she inherited drawings by Fra Bartolomeo, which she closely studied. Vasari wrote of her ‘beginning little by little to draw and to imitate in colours pictures and paintings by excellent masters’.
As a woman and a nun, she was forbidden to sell her works, but no such restrictions existed for the convent. Her works proved to be an important and lucrative source of income, and she later trained other nuns as artists to continue in her stead. In addition to creating works for her convents, she worked on important commissions as far as Perugia. It seems that Plautilla was well aware of her status as an artist and signed her works as 'Sister Plautilla – Pray for the Paintress'.
Her most famous work is Last Supper produced for her convent and has recently been renovated and returned to its former glory. Painted in the 1560s, It is the first known depiction of the subject by a woman. It can now be seen at Santa Maria Novella opposite Alessandro Allori's painting of the same theme. The work is incredibly impressive, being seven meters long and is signed by her. Rossella Lari, the restorer who worked on the painting, highlights the incredible attention to detail in the work with the veins on the apostles' hands and the cuticles on their fingernails visible are visible. All 13 characters around the table are given equal attention, instead of a usual focus on Christ. Judas is clearly visible as well, identifiable by his bag of silver. It is believed that about 8 other nuns assisted her in creating the work.
Another famous work by Nelli is Lamentation with Saints, now at the Museum of San Marco. It was the first of her works to be rediscovered and restored. Author Jane Fortune, responsible for resurrecting Nelli's name and campaigning for the restoration of the work, notes the 'raw emotional grief surrounding Christ's death as depicted through the red eyes and visible tears of its female figures'. Nelli was sometimes criticised by contemporary artists as painting too 'effeminate' figures. This most likely came from her non-adherence to conventions of painting male figures at the time. She obviously was barred from studying nudes as other artists would have, hence painted the world as she saw it.
Her works are continuously being rediscovered and the importance of St. Catherine in her paintings is an important research subjects nowadays. The patron saint of her convent inspired many of her pictures, but many believe that some might show Nelli's own features or those of her fellow nuns. Reattribution of her works pose many challenges as many are unsigned and are stored in museum deposits, inaccessible to the public. It is most likely that many new works will resurface in the years to come, allowing us to understand the true oeuvre of the nun-artist Plautilla Nelli.
Comments