“La Signorina” Nerina (Nera) Simi (April 13, 1890,

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

– February 4, 1987, Florence) was an Italian artist and a teacher of painting and drawing. She was the daughter of the Italian painter Filadelfo (Philadelphus) Simi (1849–1923), himself a student of the French academician

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (; 11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academic painting, academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living art ...

(1824–1904).

Education

She spent eight years under her father’s tutelage at his Florentine atelier The International Studio on Via Tripoli where, even as a child, she had assisted him preparing pencils, mixing colours and helping students. In 1909 she enrolled at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence and in 1914 graduated with a qualification to teach drawing.

Working life

She taught drawing in Florence at the Istituto delle Montalve, called La Quiete (a villa once belonging to a branch of the

Medici family The House of Medici ( , ; ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici and his grandson Lorenzo "the Magnificent" during the first half of the 15th ...

), while continuing to assist her father in his studio. During 1917 and 1918 she exhibited and sold her work at exhibitions in

Forte dei Marmi Forte dei Marmi () is an Italian sea town and ''comune'' located in the province of Lucca, in northern Tuscany, overlooking the Ligurian Sea. Tourism is the principal activity of Forte dei Marmi's citizens. The population of the town, amounting to ...

and Florence alongside that of her father and her brother, Renzo Simi (1889–1943). Upon Filadelfo’s death, in 1923, she inherited his studio on Via Tripoli and took over his teaching. As well, for 40 years, she continued to teach at La Quiete. The Florentine painter

Pietro Annigoni Pietro Annigoni, OMRI (7 June 1910 – 28 October 1988) was an Italian artist, portrait painter, fresco painter and medallist, best known for his painted portraits of Queen Elizabeth II. His work was in the Renaissance tradition, contrasting ...

(1910–1988) considered Simi “the greatest drawing teacher of the 20th century.”

Stazzema

She spent summers in

Stazzema Stazzema is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Lucca in the Italian region Tuscany, located about northwest of Florence and about northwest of Lucca. History During World War II, the village of Sant'Anna di Stazzema was the site of ...

, a small town in the foothills of the Apuane Alps, where she often had a following of students. In 2014 the municipality of Stazzema renamed a public piazza for her and celebrated the event with a temporary exhibition of work by her former students. The Studio Simi, the house that belonged to her and her father, has been opened as a museum of their work."Lo studio Simi è diventato Casa della Memoria"
''

Il Tirreno ''Il Tirreno'' (English: "The Tyrrhenian") is a regional Italian newspaper, printed in Livorno and serving the Tuscany region. ''Il Tirreno'' also features sixteen local editions around the whole region. History It was founded in 1877 under th ...

'', Edizione Versilia (28 October 2016)

Death

Simi died on February 4, 1987, in

. She is buried, with her parents, at the cemetery of San Miniato.

Bibliography

Joke Frima (coord.), ''La Signorina - Nera Simi and her Students'', Art Revisited, Tolbert, Holland 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simi, Nerina 1890 births 1987 deaths Artists from Florence 20th-century Italian painters 20th-century Italian women artists Italian educators