Rosalba Carriera was born in Venice on October 7, 1675, the daughter of Angelo Carriera. She showed her artistic talent at an early age by making designs for lace; she then turned her attention to decorations of snuff-boxes. She became a pupil of Guiseppe Diamentine and Antonio Balestra but her style was mainly inspired by works of Pietro Liberi. She painted at first in oil, but her reputation was gained from her miniatures and crayon portraits.

In 1705 she was elected a member of the Academy at Rome; in 1720 a member of the Academy of Bologna and a member of the Florentine Academy. She was famous throughout Europe for her pastel portraits and is credited with introducing the pastel portrait into France. In 1720 sh...