Think of the Italian Baroque period and masters like Caravaggio, Bernini, and Borromini come to mind. But in recent years, art historians and art patrons have worked to uncover the impressive legacy left by a little known female artist called Plautilla Bricci. The daughter of painter Giovanni Bricci, Plautilla Bricci learned artistic skills at her father’s workshop, a rare chance for women at the time. Over the course of her life, Bricci became an accomplished painter, sculptor, and architect.
Despite her legacy, Bricci’s name and works have long remained at the outskirts of art history. In recent years, art historians and art patron organizations like Artemisia Gold, a charity focused on rediscovering and restoring works by forgotten women artists, have worked to shed light on Bricci’s artwork and the role she played for the Italian Baroque movement.
Artemisia Gold is currently sponsoring the restoration of a masterpiece by Bricci, “The Birth of the Virgin,” dating to circa 1660. The monumental altarpiece is located in the first chapel on the right inside the Church of Santa Maria in Campo Marzo, an area of Rome near the 2,000-year-old church of the Pantheon. It depicts the birth of the Virgin Mary, with an infant Mary in the forefront and her mother, St. Anne, in the background, looking up towards an angel and a seraph.
Restorers are particularly focused on cleaning up the central area of the altarpiece, which is considerably darkened. Experts will use X-ray technology to reveal what lies underneath the centuries-old layers of dust.
As explained by Jane Adams, Founder and CEO of Artemisia Gold and leader of the restoration project, Bricci’s "Birth of The Virgin" offers a unique insight into a rare example of female agency during the 17th century. The altarpiece was in fact commissioned by Abbess Anna Maria Mazzarino. “That’s very rare and it’s very special,” Adams said in a press release.
The altarpiece has not benefited from significant restoration and is in a state of precarious conservation. Artemisia Gold has therefore championed a restoration project aimed at reviving the painting to its former glory and to document the painting technique used by Plautilla Bricci. This investigation will shed further light on Bricci’s unique contribution to Italian Baroque art. Her legacy includes the now partly destroyed Villa Benedetta Il Vascello, a boat-shaped Baroque palazzo, and the 1640 icon of the Virgin Mary with Christ Child preserved inside the church of Santa Maria in Montesanto which according to a local tale was completed by the Virgin Mary herself while Bricci fell asleep while working on the painting.
Restoration of Bricci’s “The Birth of the Virgin” starts in September of 2026 and will be unveiled to the public in spring 2027.
