The Tansey Miniatures Foundation

The Miniature About the Artist

The Tansey Miniatures Foundation

DE
The Miniature About the Artist

Lady with Mask

Rosalba Carriera

The lady with the Venetian “Zendale” holds in her right hand a fan with bars of tortoiseshell and in her left hand white gloves and a black mask with a white lining. On her left forearm she carries a white muff with red spots, probably made of swan feathers.1
Rosalba Carriera had pioneered miniature painting on ivory. An unpainted ivory sheet “[…] the colour of which has been employed with striking skill as a half-tone”2 already has a transparency similar to the skin and therefore is perfect as a painting support. That is why this portrait was painted with transparent layers of colour in the flesh parts, whereas the background and clothes are painted in opaque shades.3 The artist had come across the material when applying ornamental elements to ivory boxes. Afterwards these watercolours were covered with thick varnish to protect them. Rosalba’s choice of ivory for miniature portraits, where were not mounted on a box and not varnished, led to ivory being used almost exclusively as a support for miniature painting in the course of the 18th century.
B. P.

1 We are grateful to Neil Jeffares for his suggestions as to the costume of the lady. He proposes a date for the miniature around 1715. Portraits of ladies in disguise are indeed not uncommon in Rosalba Carriera’s works – but only a very few wear a mask for their masquerade.
2 Excerpt from a contemporary review regarding Carriera’s miniature “Girl with a pigeon”, which she donated to the Academy of San Luca in Rome.
3 The rose spray at the lady’s neckline was painted with tints sensitive to light, later resulting in complete loss of its colour.