Superhero series: Hidden genius

By David Kittredge
Sister Plautilla Nelli (1524-1588) was born in Florence, Italy and entered a convent at the age of 14. Women in those times often received their education in the Catholic convents and half of the young women were sent to the convent so that their families would not have to pay the marriage dowries that were the expected custom of the day.

Nelli was born into a wealthy family, so the reason for her becoming a nun was probably solely due to religious convictions. The convent Nelli entered, Santa Caterina, was a center for nun-artists, because the overseers who were Dominican friars, were influenced by a predecessor, Friar Savonarola, who had insisted that the sisters draw and paint to “avoid sloth.”

Sister Plautilla was a self-taught artist and was greatly influenced by Fra Bartolomeo, who before becoming a Catholic friar had studied classical painting. One of the friar’s students eventually left Bartolomeo’s drawings to “a nun who paints,” in reference to Plautilla, which she employed in her self-studies.

Nelli portrayed the raw emotions of her subjects in her paintings with vibrant facial expressions and anatomical details that were unexpected because women were forbidden to study anatomy in the Renaissance period. Her works were often large scale, which was highly unusual in this era for female artists, who at that time only painted and sculpted miniatures or wove textiles. She was a prolific artist who garnered many patrons throughout Italy, and her works graced the halls of many homes.

Many of her paintings were lost to history because she did not sign them, generally, with one exception: her mural, ”Last Supper” of Christ and the apostles. Her lack of signature has created a mystery for art historians and aficionados in the years since, but the game is now afoot to locate and identify her lost works.

Sister Plautilla’s magnificent endeavor, “Last Supper,” completed in 1568, measures 21 feet long by 6-and-a-half feet high. It was created for her convent with the help of other nun-artists in their convent. These helpers were also her students and it is thought that the nuns also raised the money to cover the cost of the materials for the large scale project. Nelli’s depiction of the last supper is thought to be the first by a woman, ever.

The painting is oil on canvas, not the usual fresco medium employed by most of the male artists of the Renaissance era. This is because the use of fresco was considered to be solely a man’s job.

The background of the painting matched the decor of the dining hall of of the convent of Santa Caterina, where it was to be hung, to make the scene more relatable to the nuns.

The tableware and the food depicted on the table in front of Christ and his apostles, also paid homage to life in the convent with the china platters, silver rimmed drinking glasses, fava beans and heads of lettuce which were not available in Jerusalem in the year, 33 A.D.

Certain colors in Renaissance paintings could symbolize specific human character traits with some colors having both bad and good connotations. Nelli used a vibrant pallet with the primary colors of orange, indigo, red and an earthy green, among others. As I studied the coloring of the group’s clothing, I realized that no judgment as to color symbolism could be made for most of the characters depicted in the scene and that may have been the idea behind the sister’s choices of hues. This implies that these are men with admirable traits and that they are also men with weaknesses, as well, which is the basic human condition.

With Nelli being self-taught, she may not have known the symbolism connected with color at all, and may have made her color choices merely for design purposes. But, the figure of Christ, pictured center stage, is clothed in royal blue, symbolizing purity and purple which connotes majesty. Hence, it is my assumption that the painter was familiar with the significance of these colors which were often worn by the royalty.

Judas, Christ’s betrayer, prominently seated in the foreground, is separate from the rest of the group, clutching his money bag, wearing an orange shirt which symbolizes materialism and corruption. But, a few of the other apostles were also clad with the color orange. The disciples are all barefooted which was the custom of their time, for the inhabitants inside a dwelling.

The tablecloth is an interesting repetition of geometric patterns that denote the folds in the fabric.

In the last 450 years, the painting was moved several times and was even removed from its frame and rolled up by Napoleon’s troops when they invaded Italy in the late seventeen hundreds. Plautilla’s “Last Supper” was removed from a warehouse in 1939, was reframed, underwent significant restoration and was housed in storage at the Santa Maria Novella Museum until it was found by art historian Jonathan Nelson, who was writing the first ever biography of Sister Plautilla Nelli. The painting has since gone through a second restoration by the all-women’s group Advancing Women Artists, known as the AWA, led by Director Linda Falcone.

The painting is now on permanent display at the Santa Maria Novella Museum in Florence, Italy which places Nelli among the masters of Renaissance era.

Finally, after four-and-a-half centuries of obscurity.