Flora

Although most of Rosalba Carriera’s miniatures are portraits, she also painted allegorical subjects. This miniature represents the goddess Flora (spring) and was probably one of a series of miniatures showing the four seasons.¹
Rosalba Carriera’s miniatures were so much sought after that she had to engage several female employees. Carl Leopold, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, from whose collection this miniature probably comes, ordered several miniatures by the Venetian artist from 1706 onwards. His brother Christian Ludwig was also an enthusiastic collector of her works. In a letter he wrote to her:“I want you to know how very glad I was to receive your drawings. I compared them to my best paintings, and I can assure you that your works exceed anything I possess.”² However, he later complained that parts of her miniatures paled by-and-by.³ Some pigments used by Carriera were definitely sensitive to light.
In this miniature, the original brightness of colour in the flowers has almost completely disappeared.
B. P.