Plautilla Nelli: A Famed Renaissance Artist in Florence - Research Paper

Introduction

Plautilla did provide drawings of all the figures included in the Last supper and also painted the heads involved in the art in a three-quarter view, with faces executed by less skilled hands; this was for clearer and comfortable views. She made many more other paintings not only for churches but also for gentlemen houses in Florence.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Due to Nelli's artistic hard work, she was cited in Giorgio Vasari's "Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. It makes her one of only four women cited in work mentioned. It was based on the reason that Nelli commanded more attention compared to the majority of her peers in such a way that it is evident since most of her paintings were in houses of gentlemen in the city, Florence.

As a nun, Nelli was enabled to pursue art despite women being banned from studying scientific careers, including art. It was based on the fact that Renaissance nunneries did free women from motherly duties, and so marriage and allowing them to engage in other activities such as art, among other off-limit activities. This was uplifted from the attempts to help nuns not to be perceived as prisoners but rather engage in painting as part of their cultural education and that for the female-nuns, it was only through their convent that they can get public by painting large scale works. Thus, the above fact enabled and freed Nelli to pursue art as a career.

However, most of the paintings designed for outside collectors by Plautilla were smaller devotional works. Those made for private use included the Last Supper explicitly designed to be used within the convent and that, they were monumental, which meant that they needed expensive scaffolding where the nuns had to pay from the funds from their commissions; they also required expensive assistants during the design process. Moreover, the religious scene was contributed to by all artists regardless of their level of expertise. In the year around 1568, Nelli embarked on a project she was most ambitious of, that is, the most involving Last supper scene, which featured life-size depictions of Jesus and His 12 disciples (Apostles).

Plautilla chose to depict Jesus and the 12 apostles dining on a fare, which was typically like and enjoyed by Santa Caterina residents. Nelli included a whole roasted lamb, fava beans, lettuce heads, and also, the traditional wine and bread. The tableware painted by Nelli was incredible with elaborations, unlike other male paintings on the same as she did include items such as fine china platters, silver-adorned glasses, and turquoise ceramic bowls.

Nelli's skill was outstanding in that, considering the fact that she was a nun, designing such a huge painting through pigment mixing, stepping onto scaffolding just to brush large strokes of paint onto a canvas that is way taller than herself, and wider than a contemporary billboard is a great work on its own for woman. It is such a massive achievement for a woman since it requires discipline, strength, and focus on accomplishing it, only great men were perceived to undertake such activities.

There was a hidden upper left corner inscription in the painting, which suggests how keen and understanding of the nature of the landmark on something she really desired and was passionate about creating. The painting had on it the artist's name written in Latin, which was an unusual skill at the time, authorship declaration that was no common in addition to a poignant appeal as viewed written, Orate pro pictora, which means, "Pray for the paintress" which also depicts her role in painting as a female-artist in spite the industry being male-dominated.

Plautilla Nelli would have done even greater things had she studied drawing and copying natural and living things like men artists. She also engaged in copying other artists such as her work named "Lamentation with Saints" for the Santa Caterina chapel, whose composition derives from Bartolommeo Fra's altarpiece of the Lamentation with St Peter and St Paul which is at the Galleria Palatina in Florence. In this, Nelli used a Dominican model where two additional women appear next to Mary. For the Pentecost, which is part of Nelli's artistic works, around five women appeared in the work.

The Last Supper by Plautilla Nelli was painted in the 1560s and is the first artwork rendered by a woman. Florence has the richest tradition of paintings; it is the founder of the Last Supper by a female artist Plautilla Nelli which was a record-breaking art by a woman. The Last Supper is Nelli's biggest and most significant project she ever painted with a size of seven-meter in length oil on canvas, and that its subject made it public and then a worldwide masterclass by a woman artist. The painting is still the largest known work up to date by an early woman artist, which received support from the all-women workshop and a far-reaching project restoration that was spearheaded by the Advancing Women Artists association.

Nelli's foot canvas was considered a remarkable art based on its challenging composition; the foot canvas was around 21 by 7. The painting (Last Supper) is just as exceptional as its maker (Plautilla Nelli). It was highly rated since women at that time had been banned from pursuing scientific studies in addition to related subjects. During this period, the so-called Renaissance error, the majority of biblical paintings were from male artists and was also considered as a male career. However, there was the formation and implementation of a non-profit Women Artists organization to recognize the works of Florentine female artists. For this reason, Nelli and her work got recognition and advanced through ranks into those similar to men artists as it was a masterpiece on its composition. Nelli's work was ranked among male artists such as Pietro Perigino, Leonardo da Vinci, and Domenico Ghirlandaio, who also created several versions of the "Last Supper." Therefore, Nelli entered the artistic career, and so as a painter as she was driven by motivation and passion for proving her prowess as an art profession.

However, the panel of these artists seem to have been overlooked over the years in such a way that, Nelli's Last Supper Restored was seen to hang in the dining hall of her convent, that is, "Santa Caterina," not until the house of worship was dissolved during the period of Napoleonic suppression in the early 19th century. The painting was later on acquired by Santa Maria Novella, the Florentine monastery, in the year 1817. It was afterward, housed in the refectory by the monastery before being moved to a new location in the year around 1865. Scholar Giovanna Pierattini then reported that the portable panel had been removed from its stretcher, rolled up, and moved to a warehouse. At the warehouse, the painting remained neglected for an extended period, close to three decades.

Nelli's Last Supper was in storage up to the year 1939 before it was significantly restored. The painting was then taken back to the refectory after the significant restoration, where it sustained little damage even during the severe flooding of Florence in the year 1966 despite remaining largely unscathed. The refectory (dining hall) was reclassified as the Santa Maria Novella Museum in 1982 then the painting was transferred to the friar's private rooms and kept there until the intervention of scholar in the 1990s.

Nelli's work was; thus, different was different from other paintings of the same subject before her in such a way that she added a heightened sentiment to every characters' expressions she designed. Nelli's work is characterized by...