Plautilla Nelli (1523–1587) was a Domenican Nun from the monastery of Santa Caterina in Cafaggio on the Via Larga in Florence  (demolished some time ago). Nelli was so well known in Renaissance Italy that she was even mentioned in the second phase of Giorgio Vasari’s great masterwork Le Vite dei piu eccellenti pittori, scultori e architetti – better known in English as The Lives of the Artists.

Think on this – all ye who claim to be too busy to find time to read – in his lifetime (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) this remarkable man managed to find time to write these 160 important biographies.

This was in-between building the Uffizi,  the Vasari Corridor, and redesigning the Palazzo Vecchio for Grand Duke Cosimo 1,  – plus doing his own painting, which includes the large walls and ceiling of the Salon del Cinquecento , the inside of the Dome of the Duomo and much more!

Without the aid of Wikipedia or even other books in the public library, Vasari researched and briefly described the lives of more than 160 artists ,  provided introductions to key sponsors from the family Medici and described various methods of painting, sculpting and types of architecture.  For most people this would be in itself a life’s work – and it is perhaps the work for which he is best remembered – but it is not possible to spend half an hour in Florence without coming across one or more of the many other things that Vasari influenced.

As a result of this huge tome of stories Vasari  has kept alive, in the archives at least , the names of  many artists who were well known in their own time but have since been overlooked by more fashionable successors.

This was certainly the case for Suor Plautilla Nelli, shown above, who as a woman artist was then,  even more than now,  lucky to get a mention at all,  in such a prestigious book –  but her work is now being sought after worldwide and many have been restored by Jane Fortune and her team in the Advancing Women Artists Foundation.

Over the past two days in Florence I have been privileged to attend a Conference held in the convent of the SS. Annunziata that was co -sponsored by the Jane Fortune Research Program on Women Artists in the Age of the Medici , the Provincia Romana di S. Caterina da Siena and the Biblioteca Domenicana of Santa Maria Novella.

Entitled Artiste nel Chiostro , this conference covered various topics related to the lives and works of nuns who were also artists – not only artists in paint but also in manuscripts, calligraphy , textiles and the most amazing examples of lace.

The work of Plautilla Nelli was mentioned throughout and covered in some detail by two speakers Catherine Turrill from the California State University of Sacramento USA and author and exhibition curator Fausta Navarro .  Sadly it seems that many of the works completed by Nelli have been lost or allowed to fall into disrepair.

This is where Jane Fortune’s organisation has been so indispensable – first stepping in and restoring by 2006  Nelli’s most famous work , shown below, called Lamentation with Saints .

In the Conference we were shown how Suor Plautilla’s Nelli had used drawings by Fra Bartholomew as models , especially for the men, in many paintings such as this one.  The image below being by Fra Bartholomew, to which Nelli has added images of the additional women known to have been present at the descent from the cross – including the two Mary’s and a feminine looking John.

There had been an inference in the Renaissance that Suor Nelli had been a friend as well as a follower of Fra Bartholomew, but the impossibility of this was pointed out with reference to the death of  Fra Bartolomeo in 1517 and the birth of Plautilla in 1523! It is therefore also unlikely to be any truth in the other rumour that he left her his drawings in his will!

Other paintings by Nelli that have been restored by the Foundation are 3 wooden Lunettes – including St Catherine of Siena in prayer , shown below with her stigmata showing on her hands.

This and two other lunettes restored by the Foundation in 2009 can now be visited in the  Andrea Del Sarto Last Supper Museum in Via San Salvi 16.

As well as these beautiful lunettes this marvellous museum also houses the Last Supper by Andrea Del Sarto and a very interesting painting of Grand Duke Cosimo 1 with various members of his somewhat unpleasant family appearing as members of the Holy Family.

It is a short bus ride from the centre but definitely worth a visit!