Laura Bartoni, Ph.D. in art history (Sapienza University of Rome 2008), is currently Associate Professor in Art History( L-Art/02) at the International Telematic University Uninettuno in Rome. Before joining the UTIU, she was a research fellow at Sapienza University (2009-2010).
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. Starting with her doctoral research, she has 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 (Le vie degli artisti. Residenze e botteghe nella Roma barocca dai registri di Sant’Andrea delle Fratte. 1650-1699, 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).
She also worked on the relationship between patronage and decoration of villas and palaces in the Baroque Rome, analysing the case study of the Villa Aurelia on the Janiculum hill (" Girolamo «ultimo cardinal Farnese» nella Roma del Seicento: la villa a Porta S. Pancrazio e la sua committenza artistica attraverso nuovi documenti in “Storia dell’arte”, vol. 43-45, p. 131-158) and, more recently, on a comparative study on the decorations of some Roman Palaces in the second half of the 17th century (L. Bartoni, Pittori e doratori nei palazzi romani della seconda metà del Seicento: soluzioni decorative e modalità di gestione del cantiere in alcuni casi esemplari, in "Römische Historische Mitteilungen", vol. speciale, 2024 (cds).
She investigated the collections of the middle class in Rome in the 17th century, the cardinals’ patronage and collecting and the display of collections in the Roman Palaces (L. Bartoni, L'allestimento delle collezioni Ludovisi nella Villa pinciana: spazi, criteri, funzioni, in Guercino nel casino Ludovisi 1621-1623, a cura di D. Benati, B. Ghelfi, R. Morselli, "Storia dell'Arte", 157, 1.2022, pp. 99-117; L. Bartoni, L'inedito contributo di monsignor Egidio alla collezione Colonna: i dipinti fiamminghi, Rubens e il mercato, in "Rivista d'arte", no. 11, 2021, pp. 143-164). Together with Patrizia Piergiovanni, she wrote a volume on Egidio Colonna's collection in the 17th century (L. Bartoni, .P Piergiovanni, “Dalla spada al pastorale”. Carlo Egidio Colonna, collezionista per riscatto personale nella Roma dei Seicento, Campisano Editore, 2024 cds)
She has collaborated for years with the Soprintendenza del Lazio (SPSAE) and the Polo Museale della città di Roma as researcher for publications and exhibitions. She worked at the Rome office of the Dorotheum-Vienna Auction House collaborating with the Old Master Paintings Department (2012-2014). In 2017, she collaborated with M. Gianandrea and M. Annibali on the international project on the 'Cataloguing and study of the historical-artistic heritage of the Convent of Santa Sabina all'Aventino in Rome', publishing the volume M. Gianandrea, L. Bartoni, M. Annibali, Il convento di Santa Sabina all'Aventino e il suo patrimonio artistico, Rome 2017. She has been collaborating since 2015 with the Galleria Colonna in Rome, and she is currently working on the family portraits of the Colonna Collection, in particular those related to the role of the women into the family.