Dr. Barbara Jatta

Barbara Jatta was born in Rome on 6 October 1962. She obtained a degree in Letters, with a thesis on the history of drawing, engraving and graphics, in 1986 from the “La Sapienza” University of Rome, and concluded a three-year specialist course in History of Art at the same institution in 1991. She undertook several specialist internships in England, Portugal and the United States.

From 1981 to 1996 she collaborated with the National Institute for Graphic Design, working first as a restorer of graphic materials and then on the cataloging of the Institute’s portfolios of drawings, engravings, woodcuts, and lithographs. From the 1990s to the present day she has taught at various institutions and on specialist courses. Since 1994 she has run the course on the History of techniques and graphic arts at the Faculty of Letters at the “Suor Orsola Benincasa” University of Naples, where since 2014 she has also served as a member of the managing board of the Pagliara Foundation.

Since 1996 she has been the director of the Cabinet of Prints at the Vatican Apostolic Library, where she is also a member of the Exhibitions, Accessions, Acquisitions, Publishing and Cataloguing commissions. On 8 September 2010, she was appointed by the Holy Father Benedict XVI as Curator of Prints at the Vatican Apostolic Library. In 2005 she was co-opted into the Gruppo dei Romanisti. She became a full member of the International Advisory Committee of Keepers of Public Collections of Graphic Art, the international association of Directors of Cabinets of drawings and prints. Since 2010 she has served as a member of the Scientific Committee of the journal Grafica d’Arte. She has collaborated in and personally organized several exhibitions and has participated in numerous publishing initiatives in the field of the history of graphics and art.

After being appointed on 15 June 2016, as Deputy Director of the Vatican Museums, from 1 January 2017 she was called by Pope Francis to guide the papal collections in the role of Director of the Vatican Museums.