"Rosalba Carriera (Italian Rococo artist, 1675-1757) was born in Venice. Her family was lower-middle-class in Venice; and as a child, she began her artistic career by making lace-patterns for her mother. As snuff-taking became popular, Carriera began painting miniatures for the lids of snuff-boxes, and was the first painter to use ivory for this purpose. Gradually, this work evolved into full-scale portrait-painting, for which she pioneered the exclusive use of pastel. She pioneered the new genre of portraits done in pastel, a medium appealing to Rococo styles for its soft edges & flattering surfaces. Her skills as a portrait artist were so highly respected; that it became a standard practice to call other women artists an English Carriera, a Dutch Carriera, a German Carriera, etc. Her portraits of noble or wealthy Europeans made her famous all over the continent. She was elected to the Academie Royale in 1720." http://bjws.blogspot.nl/2015/08/1600s-1700s-woman-artist-italian-artist.html undefined

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