Self-portrait holding a portrait of her sister

Rosalba Carriera made this in pastel in 1715, and pastel is the point. Chalk on paper was thought of as a medium for quick sketches, and she turned it into finished, sought-after portraiture that courts across Europe would soon be competing for. A few years after this she went to Paris and set the fashion there. Here she paints herself holding a small portrait of another woman, her sister Giovanna, who traveled with her and helped carry the huge workload of commissions. The two share the same tilt of the head and the same faint smile, their faces set off by pale lace. The Medici asked for this self-portrait for their Florentine collection, which is why a Venetian's likeness of herself and her sister hangs in the Uffizi.