Rosalba Carriera

1675 - 1757 • Italian • Painter/Pastelist • Rococo

"I have been unanimously admitted to the Academie. No vote was taken, as no one wanted to make use of the black ball." - Rosalba Carriera

Carriera was painting snuffboxes and MINIATURES on ivory in Venice, when the story goes, an Englishman persuaded her to take up PASTEL. But she was no "Little Match Girl"-Carriera had a good education in French, history, literature, and music. She was admitted to the Academy of Saint Luke in Rome in 170 5 and earned several notable portrait commissions, including the kings of Denmark and Poland. She went to Paris in 1720 and met RIGAUD and WATTEAU as well as members of the French court, from whom she also received commissions. Her portraits show a deft hand at subtle flattery. The French academy welcomed her, and its artists followed her example of an elegant but intimate kind of portraiture. She started in the light and airy Rococo vein, with its superficial glamour, but her later pictures became more expressive. A Self-Portrait of c. 1744 looks at a woman nearing her 70s with gray hair and a thoughtful, though glazed, cast to her eyes. One cannot help but read dismay there, knowing that in two years Carriera would lose her sight.