Joanna Moorhead

Writer and critic Joanna Moorhead explores the life and legacy of Plautilla Nelli, an artist-nun who lit up the Renaissance – but was all-but-forgotten for six centuries. 

Born in 1524, Nelli was confined to a convent in Florence aged just 14. Despite restrictions on women joining guilds or training as artists, Nelli’s talent flourished and she became the city’s first known women artist. Yet her star faded into obscurity until 2019, when the restoration of two of her paintings caused a revival of her work. 

Drawing on years of research in Florence and personal connections to convent life, Moorhead tells the story of this extraordinary figure – and the ongoing hunt for her lost works. She explores how Nelli defied the constraints of her time to create ambitious, monumental masterpieces that rivalled those of her male contemporaries. 

Joanna Moorhead is a journalist and writer whose work appears in the Guardian, Independent, The Observer and many other British newspapers. Her 2017 study of Leonora Carrington, The Surreal life of Leonora Carrington, was adapted into a BBC Four documentary, Leonora Carrington: The Lost Surrealist.