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Plautilla Nelli
Plautilla Nelli: A Renaissance Nun-Artist Born: Florence, Italy (1524) Died: 1588 Early Life and Religious Vocation Pulisena Margherita Nelli was born into a wealthy family in Florence. Her father, Piero di Luca Nelli, was a successful fabric merchant. At the age of fourteen, she became a nun at the Dominican convent of Santa Caterina da Siena, taking on the name Suor Plautilla. The convent was managed by the Dominican friars of San Marco, led by Savonarola, whose teachings emphasized devotional painting and drawing for religious women to combat idleness. This environment fostered…
The Subject Atlas
A chart of Plautilla Nelli's corpus mapped not by date but by subject. Spokes are what they painted; rings are when; and the threads between stars reveal the patrons and places that secretly connect them.
Spokes — Subject
Each arm of the atlas gathers works by what they depict: portraits, sacred scenes, mythologies, and the scientific studies. Click a spoke to swing that cluster to the top.
Rings — Career Period
Distance from the center marks time. The innermost ring is the earliest period; the outermost, the final years. Style matures as you move outward.
Threads — Shared Context
Coloured lines link works bound by the same patron, commission, or theme. Trace a context to watch related clusters light up across subjects.
