Author: jnkgazmy

Author: Karen Chernick
Source/Credit: Artnet News — artnet.com

Plautilla Bricci was a prominent Baroque architect and painter, long overlooked in art history, whose work is now gaining renewed attention thanks to a major restoration initiative led by the nonprofit organization Artemisia Gold.

For visitors to Rome’s Church of San Luigi dei Francesi — famous for housing three Caravaggio masterpieces — the third chapel on the left might be familiar. That chapel, dedicated to San Luigi IX, was designed by Plautilla Bricci (1616–1705), a Baroque artist who remains unique in history as both an accomplished painter and Italy’s first professional woman architect.

Now, a new restoration project aims to bring heightened recognition to another significant work by Bricci: her painting Birth of the Virgin (ca. 1660), located in the first chapel on the right in the Church of Santa Maria in Campo Marzio. The large-scale canvas, depicting a crowded interior scene of the newborn Virgin attended by midwives while Saint Anne looks upward toward angels, has become the focus of Artemisia Gold’s conservation efforts.

“It is so dirty that we really have to start with the X-rays and then the cleaning work to discover what’s underneath,” said Jane Adams, co-founder and CEO of Artemisia Gold, underscoring both the challenges and the importance of the project. The restoration team — including art restorer Lorenza M.G. D’Alessandro, technical art historian Beatrice de Ruggieri, and art historian Marco Coppolaro — hopes not only to conserve the painting, but also to uncover more about its origins and commission. No visible signature remains on the canvas, so researchers are looking for other marks that may confirm Bricci’s authorship.

Bricci was a multitalented artist active in the mid-17th century. In addition to painting, she worked as an architect, sculptor, and even musician — remarkable roles for a woman in her time. Daughter of the artist Giovanni Bricci, she trained in his workshop and cultivated important artistic connections that propelled her career. During her peak creative period in her fifties, Bricci received support from patrons such as Abbot Elpidio Benedetti, which enabled her to take on ambitious projects and prestigious commissions.

The Birth of the Virgin restoration is part of a broader effort by Artemisia Gold to highlight historically significant works by women artists that have been neglected or forgotten. Previous restoration achievements by the nonprofit include work on paintings by Artemisia Gentileschi and Plautilla Nelli, positioning Bricci’s rediscovery within a growing movement to reclaim women’s contributions to art history.

Published in:The Florentine
Issue: Year XXII, March 2026, Issue 331 – The Women’s Issue
Author: The Florentine Editorial Team
Source Credit: Reproduced from The Florentine, March 2026
PDF: View full article (Issue 331)

Artemisia Gold, Inc. has officially launched as a 501(c)(3) global nonprofit working in the United States, the UK and Europe to expand the mission of Artemisia Gold UK. Founded in 2020 by Jane Adams, who serves as president and CEO, the organization’s board includes vice president Susan Glimcher, executive director and advisor Mark Smith, as well as directors Susan Angelastro, Kiki Keating, Josephine Porciatti and Giovanni Porciatti.

Born from years of restoration work in Italy, Artemisia Gold is dedicated to reviving the legacy of long-forgotten artists, with a focus on women artists whose contributions have been obscured or overlooked for centuries. Through research, restoration and educational programs, the organization brings lost masterpieces and the stories behind them back into public view, ensuring that these paintings will be visible and their authors recognized.

“I am delighted to announce this important step for Artemisia Gold, Inc., which allows us to expand our mission across America, Europe and the UK,” remarks Jane Adams. “Throughout history, many artists have faced obstacles that led to their work being forgotten, misattributed or overlooked. Our role is to uncover this vital, forgotten artistic heritage and ensure these artists’ true stories are finally told.”

Over the past five years, Artemisia Gold has made significant strides, including publishing an in-depth analytical study of Artemisia Gentileschi’s Madonna and Child in collaboration with the Galleria Spada in Rome, and restoring another Gentileschi masterpiece, Sinite Parvulos Venire (Let the Children Come to Me), from the Church of San Carlo al Corso, Rome. This project was directed by Adams and made possible by the generous donation of fellow board member Mark Smith. These milestones reflect Artemisia Gold’s dedication to preserving and illuminating important works of art for a global audience.

In 2024, to celebrate the 500th birthday of Florence’s first recognized female artist, Suor Plautilla Nelli, Artemisia Gold co-sponsored and directed the restoration of two of her works: the monumental altarpiece Madonna of the Rosary in the Church of San Giuseppe and Santa Lucia in Montaione, and the panel Mother and Child with Saint Dominique, Saint Catherine, and Saint Agnes from a private Florentine collection. A Dominican nun and largely self-taught Renaissance painter, Nelli created exceptional art that was admired by her contemporaries. She also ran a thriving workshop at her convent overseeing the production of religious paintings and sculptures by her sister nuns. Her legacy, long overlooked, has gained increased recognition thanks to the rediscovery and restoration of her paintings.

In 2026, Artemisia Gold is embarking on its most ambitious chapter to date, launching two significant restoration projects that continue its mission to bring historically important works and the women who created them back into the light. The first, to be announced imminently, centres on a remarkable altarpiece by Plautilla Bricci, the pioneering 17th-century painter and Rome’s first female architect.

The organization will soon announce a new restoration project and launch an international art council program with distinguished honorary chairs Mary Garrard, Catherine Turrill-Lupi, Catherine Loewe and Siân Walters.

American art collectors Steven Alan Bennett and Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt have also agreed to support the program. Bennett and Schmidt, who only collect works by women painters, are the founders of The Bennett Prize for Women Figurative Realist Painters and are the namesakes of the newly opened Bennett Schmidt Pavilion at the Muskegon Museum of Art in Muskegon, Michigan. Bennett and Schmidt are also committed to the conservation and restoration of works by Renaissance and Baroque painters. Accordingly, their collection contains paintings attributed to Plautilla Nelli, Artemisia Gentileschi and Diana de Rosa as well as works by contemporary women painters.