Rosalba Carriera
Italian Miniature and Portrait Painter
1675 – 1737 A.D.

Rosalba Carrier, an Italian miniature and portrait painter. She was born in Venice, and at first learned lace making from her mother, but later applied herself to the decoration of snuff-boxes under Jean Steve.

After studying miniature and pastel with unimportant local masters, she soon became celebrated throughout Italy.

In 1720 she visited Paris and painted portraits of Watteau, the Regent, young Louis XV, and the nobles and ladies of the court. She was elected a member of the Academy by acclimation, and while in Paris kept a diary which gives a most entertaining account of her visit there.

She returned to Italy in 1721 and was everywhere received with enthusiasm by rulers and courts. Esteemed as the greatest miniature and pastel painter of her day, her works were compared with those of Correggio. They are delicate in handling and color, graceful in design and vivacious in expression, but often inaccurate in drawing.

Towards the end of her life she became blind through overwork, and died insane.

Her art is represented in many private collections and nearly all the public galleries of Europe.

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Reference: Famous Women; An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women By Joseph Adelman. Copyright, 1926 by Ellis M. Lonow Company.