How the "White Rose" of Venice became the "first painter in Europe”?
Saturday, April 1st on Zoom
10am Los Angeles and Phoenix, 1pm NY & Toronto, 6pm London, 7pm Florence
The Venetian-born artist Rosalba Carriera (1675-1757), whose 350th birthday we celebrate this year, was immensely famous during her lifetime. The daughter of a clerk and a lace maker, Carriera began her career painting miniatures—mostly portraits and allegorical subjects. Such works quickly established her reputation within the Italian artistic establishment and gained her acceptance into Rome’s Accademia di San Luca in 1704. Carriera is best known for her innovative approach to pastels, which had previously been used for informal drawings and preparatory sketches. She is credited with popularizing their use as a medium for serious portraiture. Everywhere, hymns were sung in praise of her skill and her personality, often in lofty and impassioned language: ‘Not without due cause is Signora Rosalba valued as an ornament of Italy, and Europe’s foremost female artist.’ ‘She fills Europe with her works,’ ‘Rosalba is one of the brightest lights in painting that your Italy has ever given us,’ ‘The glory of her sex,’ ‘The most talented female artist of our century.’
Dr. Angela Oberer will explore the various aspects that allowed Rosalba Carriera to create such a successful career. How did she organize her own workshop and run her business? Which external and internal factors helped her achieve success? How did she manage not only to enter the official art scene of Venetian painters, which was so male-dominated, but to surpass most of them in terms of her success? Finally, what do her self-portraits reveal to us today in terms of autobiographical and professional turning points? Dr. Oberer received her PhD from the Technische Universität, Berlin, working on the subject of Renaissance Venetian art and the fresco cycle in Monte Oliveto Maggiore. She has lived in Florence for twenty years, teaching art history at various American college programs including Georgetown University, Florence, AIFS, CEA, CET which is associated with Vanderbilt University, and others. A She has written and lectured extensively on the work of Rosalba Carriera. Among her publications: The Life and Work of Rosalba Carriera (1673-1757) Queen of Pastel, Amsterdam University Press · 2020; Rosalba Carriera e le sue sorelle, Maura Pagliai Editore, 2014; and Der Freskenzyklus Signorellis und Sodomas im grossen Kreuzgang von Monte Oliveto Maggiore, Akademischer Verlag, München, 2008. Her latest book Rosalba Carriera is published by Lund Humphries.
To RSVP: Paola50122@gmail.com
Minimum suggested donation: $20
This talk is free for Friends of Paola's Studiolo!
Look forward to seeing you on Zoom!
Warmest regards,
Paola
