Portrait of a Woman with Mask

Portrait of a Woman with Mask
Portrait of a Woman with Mask
Artist	Rosalba Carriera
Year	1720/1730
Medium	Pastel on paper
Dimensions	56 cm × 47 cm (22 in × 19 in)
Location	Palazzo Melzi d'Eril, Milan

The Portrait of a Woman with Mask is a pastel painting by the Venetian artist Rosalba Carriera, completed between 1720 and 1730. It is in the collection of the Palazzo Melzi d'Eril, in Milan. Its dimensions are 56 by 47 cm (22 by 19 in).^[1]

History

The portrait is painted in pastels, by Rosalba Carriera. The year of execution is approximately assumed during after the artist's trip to Paris in 1720. Its provenance can be traced back from the Galleria Lorenzelli in Bergamo where it is documented by a label on the back of the portrait and an approximate drawn up in Italian lire by the Sotheby's without a detailed year. The portrait appears in the inventory from Intesa Leasing and merged into Fondazione Cariplo's collection in 1999.^[2]

Description

This portrait of a beautiful smiling woman, holding gently a mask near her mouth as she stares at the viewer, has a certain sensuality and malice. The woman wears a band of pearls around her arm with a precious blue stone, holds a venetian moretta in her right hand, and a fine ribbon on her neck and a charming flower clumping her hair. Her pale dress indicates the influence of Classicism and allegorical representations of pagan goddesses. ^[3]

References

^ "Portrait of a Woman with Mask – Rosalba Carriera". Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
^ Lissoni, Eletta. "Charles-Antoine Coypel – Ritratto femminile con maschera" (in Italian). Cariplo Foundation. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
^ Lissoni, Elena. "Coypel Charles-Antoine, Portrait of a Woman with Mask". Cariplo Foundation. Retrieved 22 May 2021.

Bibliography

Neil Jeffares, Charles-Antoine Coypel, in Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, introduction by P. Rosenberg, London, 2006, p. 147, ill., updated on 23 May 2017
Elena Lissoni and Lucia Molino, edited by, The gentle soul. Art and life from Giovanni Agostino da Lodi to Vincenzo Irolli, exhibition catalog, Lodi, Palazzo Barni, 24 November 2017 – 31 January 2018, Silvana Editoriale, Cinisello Balsamo, 2017, n. 24, pp. 80–81
Renata Casarin and Lucia Molino, edited by, Fate and destiny. Between myth and contemporaneity, exhibition catalog, Mantua, Palazzo Ducale Museum Complex, Appartamento della Rustica, 8 September 2018 – 6 January 2019, Silvana Editoriale, Cinisello Balsamo, 2018, n. 4, pp. 38–39

Sources

Cariplo Foundation Archive, fald. Purchase of Intesa Leasing works

[1] "Portrait of a Woman with Mask – Rosalba Carriera". Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved 22 May 2021.

[2] Lissoni, Eletta. "Charles-Antoine Coypel – Ritratto femminile con maschera" (in Italian). Cariplo Foundation. Retrieved 22 May 2021.

[3] Lissoni, Elena. "Coypel Charles-Antoine, Portrait of a Woman with Mask". Cariplo Foundation. Retrieved 22 May 2021.

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