Rosalba Carriera

January 12, 1673–April 15, 1757

Active in: Italy, France, Austria

Biography

A specialist in pastel portraiture, Rosalba Carriera helped popularize the pastel medium in the eighteenth century. She was born in Venice in 1673 to Andrea Carriera, a lawyer, and Alba Foresti, an artist who specialized in embroidery and lacemaking. She and her sisters were taught lacemaking as children and she began to paint in the early 1700s, beginning with portrait miniatures on ivory. Little is definitively known about her training outside of the home, but it is thought that she trained with both Venetian and French artists, including Giuseppe Diamantini (1621–1705) and Antonio Balestra (1666–1740). She began to experiment with pastels around 1700 and completed her first known pastel portrait in 1703. In 1704, she was admitted to the Accademia di San Luca in Rome as an Accademico di merito, a title reserved for painters who lived outside of the city.

Carriera’s talents as a portraitist became well-known and her earliest sitters included Frederick IV of Denmark (1671–1730) and Augustus the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony (1670–1733). In 1720 and 1721, she lived in Paris where her work became exceedingly popular. Her sister, Giovanna, helped her with the portraits she was commissioned to complete during this period and the corresponding income went to support the Carriera family. Her popularity helped shape the emerging aristocratic taste for what became known as the Rococo style. Over the course of her career, she taught many younger women artists including Margherita Terzi, Felicità Sartori (1714–1760), and Marianna Carlevarijs (1703–1750).

Despite her professional success in Paris, she returned to Venice, although she continued to make shorter trips to cities like Parma and Modena, where she was received in various courts and aristocratic circles. In 1730, she traveled to Vienna and found an enthusiastic patron in Holy Emperor Charles VI, who acquired well over one hundred of her works. In 1738, Giovanna died unexpectedly; Carierra was deeply affected by this tragedy, which corresponded with the beginning of progressive vision loss. She underwent two cataract surgeries but still lost her vision completely in 1751. She outlived the rest of her family members and died in Venice in 1757, at the age of 84.

Selected Works

A half-length portrait of the personification of autumn, who is pictured as a young woman with a bare chest and pink robes draped in her lap. A putto sits in her lap and looks up towards her holding grapes plucked from the basket of fruit the young woman is holding.

Rosalba Carriera, Personification of Autumn, ca. 1730. Pastel on blue paper, 66 x 49.2 cm. Royal Collection Trust.

A half-length portrait of a young woman with gray hair, wearing a white and pink gown with a blue shawl around her shoulders. Her cheeks are heavily rouged, and she has flowers in her hair. She looks at the viewer directly with a serious expression.

Rosalba Carriera, Marie Anne de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Clermont, 1720. Pastel on canvas, 55 x 42 cm. Musée Condé, Château de Chantilly.

A half-length portrait of a man wearing a bright blue coat trimmed with fur and an elaborate black and white hat. He looks at the viewer with a slight smile.

Rosalba Carriera, Gustavus Hamilton (1710–1746), Second Viscount Boyne, in Masquerade Costume, 1730–31. Pastel on paper, laid down on canvas, 56.5 x 42.9 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

An oval miniature portrait of a man, cropped just below his chest. He is wearing an elaborate eighteenth-century wig and an elaborate costume to match. He looks at the viewer directly.

Rosalba Carriera, Portrait of a Man, ca. 1710. Ivory, 7.6 x 5.9 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A classicized portrait of a young woman, cropped at half-length, seated in front of a dreamy, cloud-like background. She holds a book in her lap and looks up towards the sky. She wears a laurel crown and diaphanous grown, with one breast bared.

Rosalba Carriera, Allegory of Poetry, ca. 1740. Pastel on paper, mounted to canvas, 63 x 50 cm. Staaliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.

A bust-length portrait of the artist as a middle-aged woman, seated in front of a gray background. She is elegantly dressed in eighteenth-century clothing, including a coat trimmed with fur, large earrings, and bows in her hair. She looks out, away from the viewer, with a slight smile.

Rosalba Carriera, Self-Portrait, ca. 1745. Pastel on paper, 56.7 x 45.8 cm. Royal Collection Trust.

A half-length portrait of the personification of spring, who is pictured as a young woman looking down at a putto with a smile. The two figures hold a garland of flowers. The woman has flower in her hair and is draped in pink, yellow, and white fabric, with one breast bared.

Rosalba Carriera, Personification of Spring, ca. 1730. Pastel on blue paper, 64.1 x 50.2 cm. Royal Collection Trust.

A half-length portrait of the personification of summer, who is pictured as a young woman holding a basket of fruit and flowers. She looks directly at the viewer with a slight smile. She wears a white, pink, and blue gown and large pearl earrings.

Rosalba Carriera, Personification of Summer, ca. 1730. Pastel on blue paper, 59.8 x 50.1 cm. Royal Collection Trust.

A half-length portrait of the personification of winter, who is pictured as a young woman wrapping herself in a purple velvet cloak, trimmed with ermine fur. She wears large pearl earrings and ribbons in her hair. She turns her shoulder to the viewer, looking out directly with a slight smile.

Rosalba Carriera, Personification of Winter, ca. 1730. Pastel on blue paper, 61.6 x 49.5 cm. Royal Collection Trust.

A bust-length portrait of a young woman wearing an eighteenth-century white wig with blue bows. She is elegantly dressed, with a spray of flowers at her bust. She looks directly out at the viewer.

Rosalba Carriera, Portrait of a Young Girl, n.d. Pastel on paper, mounted to canvas, 42.5 x 33.5 cm. Staaliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.

Continue Exploring

View artist timeline
Selected works

Circle

Daughter of
Alba Foresti

Sister of
Giovanna Carriera

Sister of
Angela Carriera

Student of
Giuseppe Diamantini (1621–1705)

Student of
Antonio Balestra (1666–1740)

Teacher of
Margherita Terzi

Teacher of
Felicità Sartori (1714–1760)

Teacher of
Marianna Carlevarijs (1703–1750)

Acquainted with
Catherine Read (1723–1778)

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