[1] She was a nun of the Dominican convent of St. Catherine of Siena located in Piazza San Marco, Florence, and was heavily influenced by the teachings of Savonarola and by the artwork of Fra Bartolomeo.

Her father, Piero di Luca Nelli, was a successful fabric merchant and her ancestors originated from the Tuscan valley area of Mugello, as did the Medici dynasty.

[1] She became a nun at the age of fourteen, taking on the name Suor Plautilla, at the convent of Santa Caterina di Cafaggio; she would later be prioress on three occasions.

Sixteenth-century art historian Giorgio Vasari wrote, "and in the houses of gentlemen throughout Florence, there are so many pictures, that it would be tedious to attempt to speak of them all.

[5] Author Jane Fortune referred to her Lamentation with Saints and the "raw emotional grief surrounding Christ's death as depicted through the red eyes and visible tears of its female figures" as a case in point.

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

Nelli's work represents a daring creative endeavor for a nun-artist of her period, as most were relegated to producing miniatures, textiles, or small sculptures in painted terra cotta or wood.

By creating and signing this enormous fresco-like work depicting one of Florence's most beloved spiritual subjects, Nelli successfully placed herself among the ranks of her male counterparts, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea del Sarto and Domenico Ghirlandaio, an accomplishment lost to history for many centuries.

[14] In her closing comment, Scudieri states, "Not only can we more clearly see the painting's expressive intensity thanks to this restoration, we can also more fully understand the convent life of Plautilla Nelli and her time in Florence.

[5][15] The Emmy-winning[16] PBS television documentary (June, 2013) Invisible Women, Forgotten Artists of Florence, based on Dr. Jane Fortune's book by the same title, features a segment on Suor Plautilla Nelli and the restoration of the Lamentation with Saints.