Based on her new book L’Architettrice, Italian author Melania G. Mazzucco tells the story of a forgotten great artist of Baroque Rome: Plautilla Bricci (1616–1705), probably the first female architect. The lecture will be held in English. In collaboration with Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Stoccolma.
Date and time
Friday 27 September, 15:30-16:30
Location
The South courtyard, entrance floor
Language
English
Admission
Free
Plautilla Bricci started painting at an early age, inspired by her father who was an artist. She soon realised that, as a woman at the time, it would not be easy to realise her artistic dream. However, one of her earliest paintings, the Icon of Santa Maria in Montesanto (1640), attracted public attention and changed her life. It was said that the painting was completed by the Madonna herself. Plautilla took a vow of chastity, perhaps to avoid an arranged marriage or more likely to have the freedom to paint. Her career as a painter really took off in the 1660s when, then in her fifties, she received two important commissions for the complex of San Giovanni in Laterano. A few years earlier, she had already become interested in architecture, at the time a field reserved for men. But Plautilla, with the support of her faithful friend Abbot Elpidio Benedetti, broke new ground. Her most notable achievement was a villa that resembled a ship on top of a cliff. The villa, known as Il Vascello - the ship - was unfortunately almost completely destroyed in 1849 by French army cannon fire.
In the collection of Nationalmuseum there is an architectural drawing recently attributed to Plautilla Bricci.
Melania G. Mazzucco. Photo: Venice Documentation Project per Incroci di Civiltà.
Cover of the book Arkitekten. En kvinna (L'Archittetrice).
About the lecturer
Melania G. Mazzucco, born in 1966, is one of Italy's most prominent authors. She writes fiction, academic books, art history essays and historical novels. Her first international success was Vita (2003), which also won the prestigious Stresa Prize. Mazzucco's two art history novels are biographies of 16th- and 17th-century women artists: La lunga attesa dell'angelo (2008) about Marietta Robusti, Tintoretto's daughter, and L'architettrice (2019) about Plautilla Bricci. The book on Bricci became an instant bestseller and also inspired the first ever monographic exhibition on Plautilla: A Silent Revolution, in Trastevere's newly restored Renaissance Palazzo Corsini.
A Swedish-Italian collaboration
The lecture will be arranged in collaboration with Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Stoccolma and Palaver Press.