Sister Plautilla Nelli (1524–1588) 

• Was a self-taught nun-artist and the first ever known female Renaissance painter of Florence
• She was a nun of the Dominican convent of St. Catherine of Siena located in Piazza San Marco, Florence.
• Pulisena Margherita Nelli was born into a wealthy family in the San Felice area of Florence.
• She became a nun at the age of fourteen, taking on the name Suor Plautilla, at the convent of Santa Caterina di Cafaggio.
• Nelli had the favor of many patrons (including women), executing large pieces and miniatures.
• Fra' Serafino Razzi, a sixteenth-century Dominican Friar, historian, named three nuns of Santa Caterina as disciples of Plautilla, Suor Prudenza Cambi, Suor Agata Trabalesi, Suor Maria Ruggieri.
• She copied works of the mannerist painter Agnolo Bronzino and high Renaissance painter Andrea del Sarto.
• Her primary source of inspiration came from copying works of Fra Bartolomeo.
• Fra Bartolomeo left his drawings to his pupil, Fra Paolino who, in turn left them in the possession of "a nun who paints" in the convent of Santa Caterina da Siena.
• Nelli signed her paintings as "Pray for the Paintress" after her name, confirming her role in spite of her gender.
• She is one of the few female artists mentioned in Vasari's Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects.

• Nelli produced mainly devotional pieces including large-scale paintings, wood lunettes, book illustrations, and drawings. 

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