After Rosalba Carriera A pair of portraits: one of a...
After Rosalba Carriera
A pair of portraits: one of a lady holding a mask; the other of a lady holding a basket of fruit
oil on copper
each unframed: 20.3 x 16.8 cm.; 8 x 6⅝ in.
each framed: 29.5 x 26.9 cm.; 11⅝ x 10⅝ in.
(2)
Condition Report:
The copper plates are flat and stable. The paint surfaces are slightly dirty and the varnish is slightly discoloured. Some surface scuffs and some more discoloured retounchings are visible in both, particularly in the background and around the jawline of the lady holding fruit. The impasto paintwork in the headpieces and costumes of both ladies is well preserved. Inspection under ultraviolet light is impeded by the opaque varnish but it is possible to discern, in addition to the aforementioned retouchngs, a restored damage in the background to the left of the lady holding a mask and an older campaign of restoration through the chest of the lady holding fruit. Overall both paintings are in fairly good condition.
Catalogue Note:
The Portrait of a lady holding a mask derives from a well known composition by Rosalba Carriera, possibly a portrait of her student and collaborator Felicità Sartori, which exists in two versions in pastel: one at the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, and another at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva.1 The latter seems to have served as the inspiration for this painting, which shows similar details in the sitter's dress and jewels (note in particular the pearl bracelet). Rosalba's portrait was engraved by Benjamin Smith and Richard Houston (see impressions in the British Museum, London; and the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva).2 A copy in miniature of the composition is in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden.3 The Portrait of a lady holding a basket of fruit derives from a pastel by Rosalba depicting 'Summer' (whereabouts unknown), which was also engraved.4 Another pastel of the same figure, without the background foliage, is recorded in a Milanese private collection.5
1 B. Sani, Rosalba Carriera 1653–1757. Maestra del pastello nell'Europa ancien régime, Turin 2007, pp. 306–7, nos 344 and 345; https://collections.geneve.ch/mah/oeuvre/portrait-de-felicita-sartori-en-costume-turc/ba-2004-0003-d
2 https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1943-0410-2354; https://collections.geneve.ch/mah/oeuvre/venetian-lady-masquerade/e-2020-0415
3 https://skd-online-collection.skd.museum/Details/Index/596338
4 B. Sani, Rosalba Carriera, Turin 1988, p. 317, no. 307, reproduced fig. 267 and in colour pl. VII.
5 Sani 1988, p. 317, no. 308, reproduced fig. 268.
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After Rosalba Carriera
A pair of portraits: one of a lady holding a mask; the other of a lady holding a basket of fruit
oil on copper
each unframed: 20.3 x 16.8 cm.; 8 x 6⅝ in.
each framed: 29.5 x 26.9 cm.; 11⅝ x 10⅝ in.
(2)
Condition Report:
The copper plates are flat and stable. The paint surfaces are slightly dirty and the varnish is slightly discoloured. Some surface scuffs and some more discoloured retounchings are visible in both, particularly in the background and around the jawline of the lady holding fruit. The impasto paintwork in the headpieces and costumes of both ladies is well preserved. Inspection under ultraviolet light is impeded by the opaque varnish but it is possible to discern, in addition to the aforementioned retouchngs, a restored damage in the background to the left of the lady holding a mask and an older campaign of restoration through the chest of the lady holding fruit. Overall both paintings are in fairly good condition.
Catalogue Note:
The Portrait of a lady holding a mask derives from a well known composition by Rosalba Carriera, possibly a portrait of her student and collaborator Felicità Sartori, which exists in two versions in pastel: one at the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, and another at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva.1 The latter seems to have served as the inspiration for this painting, which shows similar details in the sitter's dress and jewels (note in particular the pearl bracelet). Rosalba's portrait was engraved by Benjamin Smith and Richard Houston (see impressions in the British Museum, London; and the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva).2 A copy in miniature of the composition is in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden.3 The Portrait of a lady holding a basket of fruit derives from a pastel by Rosalba depicting 'Summer' (whereabouts unknown), which was also engraved.4 Another pastel of the same figure, without the background foliage, is recorded in a Milanese private collection.5
1 B. Sani, Rosalba Carriera 1653–1757. Maestra del pastello nell'Europa ancien régime, Turin 2007, pp. 306–7, nos 344 and 345; https://collections.geneve.ch/mah/oeuvre/portrait-de-felicita-sartori-en-costume-turc/ba-2004-0003-d
2 https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1943-0410-2354; https://collections.geneve.ch/mah/oeuvre/venetian-lady-masquerade/e-2020-0415
3 https://skd-online-collection.skd.museum/Details/Index/596338
4 B. Sani, Rosalba Carriera, Turin 1988, p. 317, no. 307, reproduced fig. 267 and in colour pl. VII.
5 Sani 1988, p. 317, no. 308, reproduced fig. 268.
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