Laura Bartoni, Ph.D. in art history (Sapienza University of Rome 2008), is currently a Research Fellow in art history at the International Telematic University Uninettuno in Rome (2010 to present). Before joining the UTIU, she was a research fellow at Sapienza University (2009-2010). In 2018, she earned the national scientific qualification of associate professor in modern art history.
Her research interests are focused on the history of collecting, as well as art and architecture in 17th-century Rome. She has participated in a number of research projects of Sapienza University on the history of collecting (2009-2010) and was a member of an Inter-University National Research Project (PRIN 2009) - Collectors and collections in Rome and the Italian courts: a comparative study from the founders to the dispersion (XV-XVIII) - coordinated by Silvia Danesi Squarzina. She is currently working on a book on cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi and his collection in Rome.
She has also investigated artists and artisans’ life in Rome in the second half of the 17th century, in the area of the Spanish Steps and Trinità dei Monti, with a special focus on the social aspects and material life of the artists as well as the different levels of artistic production. The results were published in the book Le vie degli artisti (Rome 2012). On this topic, she participated in international conferences and published essays focusing on artists’ homes, the dynamics of settlement and integration strategies of foreign artists in 17th-century Rome. In 2018, she participated in the research project “Artisti olandesi e fiamminghi a Roma in epoca moderna”, in the framework of the project “Hadrianus (History of Dutch Art and Culture in Rome): a digital gateway to the Dutch presence in Rome through the ages" (Royal Netherlands Institute at Rome), coordinated by Dr. Arnold Witte (KNIR).
In 2017 she coordinated - together with M. Gianandrea and M. Annibali - the international project “Catalogazione e lo studio del patrimonio storico-artistico del Convento di Santa Sabina all’Aventino a Roma”, editing the volume by M. Gianandrea, L. Bartoni, M. Annibali, Il convento di Santa Sabina all’Aventino e il suo patrimonio artistico, Rome 2017.
She is now collaborating with the Colonna Gallery in Rome, and currently working on the family portrait of the Colonna Collection. On this subject, she presented the research paper Représentation et fonctions du portrait dans le Collections de princes Colonna at the international conference «”Peint d’après nature”. L'art du portrait en Europe entre Contreréforme et Baroque» (Paris, Collège de France, 19-23.03.2018).