Irene Parenti Duclos’ Madonna del Sacco at the Accademia
“Breaking into” the Accademia Gallery
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A highlight in 2011
Duclos donned her hoop skirts and climbed the scaffolding! Michelangelo’s David—the art world’s most famous man—”lives” in Florence’s Accademia. Indeed, the gallery is a Man’s World. There is a single painting by a female artist in the entire venue: Irene Parenti Duclos’ Madonna del Sacco, after Andrea del Sarto. Duclos ran a successful workshop and school in eighteenth-century Florence that was a magnet for art-loving Grand Tourists. She was a legend in her time. AWA’s ground-breaking conference, hosted at the Accademia, brought this important artist to the forefront, sharing the many discoveries revealed thanks to the restoration process. We now have proof that the artist donned her usual hoop skirt and climbed the scaffolding of Santissima Annunziata Church and literally traced Del Sarto’s masterwork. It was no job for ninnies.