COLLECTION NAME:
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
mediaCollectionId
ArtArtHiAAH~7~7
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
Collection
true
Image Record ID:
aahi0000285
image_record_id
aahi0000285
Image Record ID
false
Work Title (display):
Portrait of Cardinal Melchiorre de Polignac
Image Title:
full view
Work Dates (display):
18th century
Work Dates type:
creation
Work Creator (display):
Rosalba Carriera (Italian, 1675-1757)
Work Creator gender:
female
work_creator_or_agent_gender
female
Work Creator gender
false
Work Creator notes (display):
Italian pastellist and painter. She was a daughter of Andrea Carriera, who worked in the mainland podesteria of the Republic of Venice, and of Alba Foresti, an embroiderer. She had two sisters: Angela, who married the painter Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, and Giovanna, who, like Rosalba herself, never married. Pier Caterino Zeno (see Campori, 1886) and other, anonymous sources recorded that she was a pupil of Giuseppe Diamantini; according to Mariette, she originally painted snuff-boxes and later became a pupil of Federico Bencovich. There are more precise records of her life and of some of her works from 1700 onwards, when she started keeping the letters she received and rough copies of those she sent (Florence, Bib. Medicea-Laurenziana, MS. Ashburnham 1781). During the early years of the century Carriera painted mainly miniature portraits on small pieces of oval-shaped ivory (e.g. Mrs Summers; London, V&A), which were often intended to adorn the inside of snuff-box lids. However, the portrait of Antonio Maria Zanetti (Stockholm, Nmus.), painted when Zanetti was no more than 20 years old, proves that she was already producing the pastel portraits for which she would become most renowned. Her international clientele, composed principally of British, French and German travellers, provided her with a lifelong source of commissions for miniature portraits for snuff-box lids or medallions, cabinet paintings and portraits in pastel. As a result of the interest of Christian Cole, secretary to Charles Montagu, 1st Duke of Manchester (then ambassador extraordinary in Venice), Carriera was admitted to the Accademia di S Luca in Rome on 27 September 1705, submitting the Girl with Dove (Rome, Accad. N. S Luca) as her reception piece. Carlo Maratti, principal of the Accademia, much admired this miniature, the undulating brushstrokes of which are reminiscent of Pellegrini's Rococo style. A number of Carriera's early miniatures, such as the Flute-player, Woman Playing the Harpsichord and Lady Cutting her Hair (all St Petersburg, Hermitage), take women's everyday activities as their subject; others, for example Flora (Munich, Bayer. Nmus.) and Venus and Cupid (Copenhagen, Kon. Dan. Kstakad.), explore mythological themes connected with women's lives. There are rather fewer portraits of men. Around 1708 Carriera painted a pastel Self-portrait (Florence, Uffizi) for the collection of artists' self-portraits belonging to the Grand Duke Cosimo III de' Medici. This work, which is mentioned in a letter of 1709, was painted in a style similar to that of the French pastellist Joseph Vivien. From 1711 to 1720 she brought a more personal style to her pastel portraits, with more delicate and subtly blended colours, the drawing less marked and facial expressions more indicative of the subject's psychological state. Although they could be categorized as official State portraits, her depictions of aristocrats are distinguished by their lack of severity, as can be seen in her Portrait of a Man in Armour (Dresden, Gemäldegal. Alte Meister), which may be identified as Augustus III of Poland (Sani, 1988), and in her portrait of Philip, Duke of Wharton (London, Buckingham Pal., Royal Col.). In this ten-year period Carriera came into contact with the French painter Nicolas Vleughels, the important connoisseur of prints and drawings Pierre-Jean Mariette and the collector Pierre Crozat, who invited her to Paris. On 14 January 1720 she was admitted to the Accademia Clementina in Bologna and in March that year went to Paris with Pellegrini, who had been commissioned to paint the ceiling of the Banque Royale (172021; destr.). While in Paris, Carriera was Crozat's guest at his house in the Rue de Richelieu. Her visit, which lasted until 11 March 1721, was a triumphant success. She painted portraits of Louis XV as a Child (versions, Dresden, Gemäldegal. Alte Meister, see fig.; Boston, MA, Mus. F.A.) in pastel and also in miniature, as mentioned in her diary. Her sitters also included some of the most fashionable ladies at the French court; her portrait of Mlle de Clermont (Chantilly, Mus. Condé) is among the few of these paintings that survive. She made friends with many of the artists living in Paris, including Hyacinthe Rigaud, Nicolas de Largillierre, Jean-François de Troy and Antoine Watteau, who was impressed by her miniatures and exerted great influence on her work. On 26 October 1721 she was received (reçue) into the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture with the Nymph of the Train of Apollo (Paris, Louvre) as her morceau de réception. At this time her work became increasingly mature and refined; her ability to give deeper expression to faces is exemplified in the portrait of ?Antoine Watteau (1720; Treviso, Mus. Civ. Bailo). After her return to Italy, Carriera was invited in 1723 to the Este court at Modena, where she painted portraits of each of the three daughters of Duke Rinaldo d'Este (versions of each, Dresden, Gemäldegal. Alte Meister; Florence, Uffizi; Munich, Residenz). She also gained an important patron in Joseph Smith, the British consul in Venice, who bought a considerable amount of her work, part of which was later acquired by George III for the royal collections in England. In 1730 Carriera left Italy again, this time for Vienna, where Pellegrini had been summoned to paint the cupola of the Salesian church. While there she made portraits of the Empress Amalia (Munich, Residenz; Dresden, Gemäldegal. Alte Meister) and of the poet and librettist Pietro Metastasio (Dresden, Gemäldegal. Alte Meister). These works represent a new stage in her development, in which she brought out the more austere characteristics of her sitters, with less emphasis on Rococo playfulness. In later years Carriera underwent an eye operation, but this did not, apparently, interfere seriously with her painting. She continued to receive important sitters and was also commissioned to paint a series of the Four Elements for Frederick-Augustus II, Elector of Saxony (Augustus III of Poland from 1733), with whom she had contact through Francesco Algarotti. Augustus was the leading collector of her pastels; his gallery in Dresden, described by 18th-century sources as one of the wonders of the age, contained more than 100 of them in the Rosalba Room. His son Frederick-Christian (172263) added Carriera's miniatures to the collection. Most of these works were either sold by the Dresden Gemäldegalerie or destroyed in World War II. (Grove Art Online Accessed 2006-07-25)
Work Style Period:
18th century
work_styleperiod
18th century
Work Style Period
false
Work Style Period:
Italian Renaissance-Baroque styles
work_styleperiod
Italian Renaissance-Baroque styles
Work Style Period
false
Work Style Period:
Rococo
work_styleperiod
Rococo
Work Style Period
false
Work Subject:
clergy
subject
clergy
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
cardinals (prelates)
subject
cardinals (prelates)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
portraits
subject
portraits
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
men (male humans)
subject
men (male humans)
Work Subject
false
Work Worktype:
pastels (visual works)
work_type
pastels (visual works)
Work Worktype
false
Work Category (VRC classification):
drawings
work_category__ucbaahvrc_classification_
drawings
Work Category (VRC classification)
false
Work Material and Technique (display):
pastel
Work Measurements (display):
57 cm (H) x 46 cm (W)
Work Location (Repository or Site) name:
Gallerie dell'Accademia di Venezia
Work Location (Repository or Site) role:
repository
Work Location (Geographic) name:
Venice, Italy
Image Rights (display):
© Ronald Wiedenhoeft. Licensed for educational use via Scholars Resource: Saskia, Ltd.
Image Rights license agreement:
DAVIS ART IMAGES: This image is copyrighted by Davis or its sources and all interest in and to the Image and its copyrights throughout the World are retained by Davis or its sources. Your permission to use the Images is limited as provided below. You acknowledge and agree that your use of the Images, including all use by your faculty and students who are users, shall be strictly limited to educational purposes by means of display through classroom projection and closed network, for instruction and study solely by users who are staff, faculty and registered students of your educational institution at the locations specified below. This license includes permission to use the Images on a multi-user network at the defined locations, and to permit remote access to a computer/server located at your site. Simultaneous display in multiple locations at or connected to the defined locations also is permitted. For all of these uses, you willl use reasonable security measures designed to limit access accordingly (e.g. by requiring authenticated password entry or by using other reasonable security measures to limit access). Any open access use and any publication (including scholarly publication) of the Images for any purpose, is strictly prohibited. Any request for any such use, or any other use not expressly authorized in this Agreement, must be directed to Davis in writing. You shall inform all permitted users of the copyright status of the Images and the restrictions on their use set forth in this Agreement. Your specified locations of use are: 1. University of Colorado at Boulder; 2. University of Colorado at Denvcer and Health Sciences Center (inclusing the Metropolitan State College of Denver and the Community College of Denver which may have students on that downtown campus); 3. University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
Work Rights (display):
public domain
Terms of Agreement and Conditions of Use:
YOU AGREE: Luna Imaging's Insight Software and the digital image collection associated with it (the Software) are being provided by the University of Colorado under the following license. By obtaining, using, and/or copying this work, you (the Licensee) agree that you have read, understood, and will comply with the following terms and conditions. 1. The Software contains the University of Colorado's Department of Art and Art History's implementation of a digital image collection; 2. Any images obtained through use of the Software will be used only for non-profit, educational purposes; 3. The use of images obtained through the software will only be used while the Licensee is either: a) an employee of the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver, or the Community College of Denver, or b) an enrolled student at the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver, or the Community College of Denver; 4. When the Licensee is no longer an employee or student of the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver or Community College of Denver, either by an action of the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver or the Community College of Denver or due to actions of the Licensee, the licensee will cease to use any images exported from the Department of Art and Art History's digital image collection; 5. The Licensee agrees to indemnify the University for claims and liability arising out of the use of the Software or for any violations of this license; 6. THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO SUPPLIES THE SOFTWARE WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
CU Copyright Statement:
The contents of the University of Colorado Digital Library are available for your use in research, teaching, and private study. Some of these items are protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) and some items may have additional restrictions. If you use the items in this collection, make sure you abide by any restrictions stated in the descriptive data window. The nature of these collections often makes it difficult to determine the copyright status of an item. We have made every effort to provide information about copyright owners and other restrictions in the descriptive data window. Ultimately, however, it is your responsibility to use the item according to the terms governing its use. If you are a copyright holder and the information is either not listed or listed incorrectly, please let us know so that we can update the information on our site.
Holding Institution:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Collection:
Art and Art History Visual Resources Center
Collection info and contact:
For information about this collection, see