Call for papers: New discoveries about painter and architect Plautilla Bricci in 17th-century Rome

08 December 2021 - 06 February 2022

New discoveries about painter and architect Plautilla Bricci in 17th-century Rome
Symposium details: April 11, 2022 (Rome, Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, Galleria Corsini). Deadline for call for papers: February 1, 2022
Scientific organization and coordination: Yuri Primarosa

Thanks to the first monograph on Plautilla Bricci (Rome 1616–post 1690), the greater public has had the opportunity to discover this very talented 17th-century artist and scholars have finally been able to view a significant selection of her works, many of which were restored for the occasion. At the end of the exhibition “A Silent Revolution: Plautilla Bricci, painter and architect” (Galleria Corsini, November 4, 2021–April 19, 2022), Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica will be hosting a day of study to continue reflecting on this unique female artist.
In addition to taking stock of Bricci’s corpus and her relations within the art world, the exhibition catalog offers new attributions and important documentary findings. The importance of the works loaned for the exhibition and the depth of the critical essays submitted in 2021, more than 10 years after the first studies done on Plautilla “Briccia”, have created an opportunity for new analysis of specific topics and new interpretations of Plautilla within the fertile historical and artistic context of her time.

Despite the now vast bibliography on the topic, the “case of Plautilla Bricci” deserves further investigation. This conference aims to address the many aspects of her activities as an artist, offering new data and food for thought on a series of questions that have yet to be answered. In addition to Plautilla’s professional and existential path (also within the academic institutions), the conference intends to look closely at her relationships with her clients, artists, and men of culture and follow the history and conservation of some of her masterpieces.

We should not be tempted to look at Plautilla through the distorted lens of the present in light of the current heated debate on gender issues, which makes the life and career of Plautilla Bricci more topical than ever. The intent of the exhibition and of this day of study is not to give history a new icon, but to take a more in-depth look at a figure who was unique for her time, adding new pieces to the puzzle of Plautilla as a person and professions in pursuit of historical truth. For this reason a philological, interdisciplinary approach should be adopted, starting with the up-to-date reflections published in the exhibition catalog, fruit of the work of a study group made up of some of the foremost specialists on this artist and her cultural context.
The papers submitted may address already-known cases that have been analyzed using an innovative approach or they may offer unpublished documents that will help broaden awareness of the topic.

The proposals must be sent in the form of an abstract (max 2000 characters), together with a short CV, by the 1st February 2022 to the following address: yuri.primarosa@beniculturali.it

The submissions may be presented in Italian, English and French. We plan to contribute to travel and/or accommodation expenses. We plan to publish the papers.