Rosalba Carriera: Drawings & Paintings (Annotated)

By Raya Yotova

After the death of her sister Giovanna in 1738, Rosalba Carriera fell into deep depression. She suffered two failed cataract surgery, but eventually, she completely lost her sight. She survived all her family, spending her last years in a small house in Dorsoduro in Venice.  She died at the age of 84.
At the time of her death, Rococo's style was no longer as popular as before. However, she still had a strong influence on many of the artists who started working after her syle, such as Catherine Read, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard and Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun.
Rosalba Carriera was the first female artist to start a new style in the artistic community. Rococo's style emphasizes the use of pastel colors; spontaneous brushes, dancing lights, subtle surface tonality and a soft, elegant and charming approach to the subject. She was known for pulling white chalk in combination with darker tones to capture the shiny texture of lace and satin. She also had the talent to highlight facial features and soft stunts of fluffy hair. Nearly a century after her, many different artists were working with the pastel media in her style.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publisher s13381
• Release date: Feb 11, 2019
• ISBN: 9788832513943

Book preview

Drawings

Foreword

Rosalba Carriera was born in Venice. Her family is from the lower middle class in Venice, and as a child, she began her artistic career by making lacy patterns for her mother who was engaged in this trade. However, when the interests of lace fell, and the industry began to decline, Carriera had to find a new means of securing itself and her family.

The popularity of snuff-taking enabled her to do just that. Carriera began painting miniatures for cigarette-boxes and was the first artist to use ivory instead of parchment for this purpose.

Gradually this work turned into a portrait painting on which she was a pioneer,