Rosalba Carriera

N. Jeffares, "Rosalba Carriera," Pastels & Pastellists website, cat. no. J.21.22914, reproduced.

Rosalba Carriera executed this recently rediscovered pastel portrait of a Cistercian monk in the 1720s. The dark-haired sitter confronts the viewer with an engaging, steady gaze, his restrained expression conveying a sense of inner calm born of devotional introspection. Although the composition is tightly focused on the face, just enough of the white habit is visible to identify him as a member of the Cistercian order, whose ideals of austerity and contemplation find an eloquent visual analogue in Carriera’s near-monochromatic palette.

A symphony of whites and silvery greys, animated by the subtlest nuances of flesh tones, the work demonstrates the extraordinary refinement of Carriera’s technique, in which softness of modeling and chromatic restraint produce an effect of luminous immediacy. Among the most accomplished miniaturists and pastellists of her generation, Carriera elevated these media to unprecedented prominence, achieving international success by the 1720s by when her work was eagerly sought by aristocratic patrons and Grand Tourists alike. Her Parisian sojourn of 1720-1721, during which she was received into the Académie Royale and painted the young Louis XV, marked the height of her early fame.