Portrait of a Woman

From 1720 to 1728 Rosalba Carriera kept a working diary that lists her sitters as they came. Most are named. Some appear only as un Inglese, an Englishman, or una incognita, an unknown woman. No name has come down with this pastel either. The museum dates it to about 1720 or 1721, and allows that it may be a little later in that decade.

She worked quickly, often finishing a portrait and being paid for it within a week, because so many of her sitters were travellers with a set date to leave Venice. The hand resting on the breast is worth a closer look. Neil Jeffares, the historian who catalogued her pastels, notes that when she drew hands she tended to mark each joint of the fingers and outline it in red.