Rosalba Carriera, in full
Rosalba Giovanna Carriera (born Oct. 7, 1675, Venice –
died April 15, 1757, Venice), portrait painter and miniaturist, an
originator of the
style in France and Italy. She is best known for her work in pastels.
Some scholars suggest that Carriera
learned lace-making from her mother and that, as the lace industry
declined, she instead began decorating snuffboxes for the tourist
trade. Whatever the origins of her interest, Carriera first became
known for her miniature portraits on snuffboxes. She was the first
artist to use ivory rather than vellum as a ground for miniatures.
By the time Carriera was age 25, her miniatures had won her special
membership in the Academy of St. Luke in Rome.
Her art suited the refined taste of her
times. Many notables passing through Venice commissioned portraits from
her. The collector and financier Pierre Crozat encouraged her to go to
Paris. She did so in March 1720, accompanied by her family, and became
the idol of the French capital; she received commissions for 36 portraits,
among them one of Louis XV as a child. She became a member of the French
Royal Academy in 1720 and the next year returned to Venice and her home
on the Grand Canal. In 1730 she once more left Venice, this time to
work for six months in Vienna, where Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI
became her patron and the empress became her pupil. After 1750
Carriera's sight failed.