News & Stories

SPECIAL EDITION DEDICATED TO
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
MARCH 8

Save Venice launched the Women Artists of Venice (WAV) program in 2021 to recover the history of women artists and artisans who were born in or active in Venice in the early modern period through an ambitious program of conservations and new research. Exciting discoveries have already come to light.

Many notable conservations are now underway in the conservation track of the WAV program, led by Melissa Conn. The most transformative thus far involve works by Giulia Lama (1681–1747). At the Scuola dei Mercanti in Cannaregio, conservators Enrica Colombini, Elisa Galante, and Sofia Marchesin continue to treat Lama’s canvases of the Four Evangelists from the church of San Marziale. These once dark and dingy paintings are now recognizable as some of the finest examples of the artist’s work. The conservation of Saints Mark, Luke, and John has been generously sponsored by an anonymous donor in Memory of Bernice F. Davidson. Saint Matthew has been generously sponsored by Donna Malin.

In January 2023, treatment of Lama’s painting of a Female Saint in Glory/Assumption of the Virgin(?) from the church of Santa Maria Assunta in Malamocco also began. Following the painting’s thrilling journey by boat from the church to a lab in Venice (watch now), conservators Claudia Vittori, Barbara Bragato, and Lorenzo Conti immediately got to work performing cleaning tests to remove centuries of disfiguring varnish and residues. The instant results from these initial trials were nothing short of stunning, revealing vibrant colors, dramatic chiaroscuro, and strong, decisive brush strokes. Radiographic (x-ray) imaging of the painting has also revealed the artists preparatory drawings, and compositional changes (pentimenti). While the subject of the painting remains uncertain, new clues may emerge as treatment moves forward.

This conservation was generously sponsored by Lafayette 148 New York with additional support from Alan & Sallymoon Bentz and Irina Tolstoy & John G. Gans.

The research track of the WAV program, led by Board member Tracy E. Cooper, professor at Temple University, has identified a remarkable count of 90 women artists whose histories and works will be studied and tracked in a dedicated WAV database being built for this purpose. WAV Research Associate Fellow Susan Nalezyty, adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University, is creating this database that will serve as a tool to synthesize pre-existing and new scholarship with the aim of making results broadly accessible through an online portal.

Meanwhile, in Venice, WAV Research Fellow Nora Gietz is working diligently in the city’s many historic archives to discover more about the elusive details of Giulia Lama’s life and career. Her efforts have already led to new discoveries.

Stay tuned for regular reports on WAV’s progress at savevenice.org, and on Instagram and Facebook.

Save Venice extends its heartfelt gratitude to the many generous supporters of the WAV program:

The Diane Apostolos-Cappadona Trust in Memory of Her Mother, Stacia Apostolos; Anonymous in Memory of Bernice F. Davidson; Manitou Fund through Nora McNeely Hurley; Lafayette 148 New York; Donna Malin; Sallymoon & Alan Bentz; Young Friends of Save Venice through the Camalotte Foundation; Irina Tolstoy & John G. Gans; Susan Angelastro in Memory of Her Sister, Amy Angelastro; and Anonymous.

If you would like to join our campaign to recognize the Women Artists of Venice, please contact araby@savevenice.org.