236 · 150 · Rosalba Carriera America (b/w photograph), pastel on paper, 33 × 27 cm Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, gal. no. P 34: in 1933 and 1937 (possibly later?), the pastel is known to have been in the Residenzschloss in Dresden; lost since 1945. Rosalba Carriera’s series of pastels depicting the Four Continents is representative of the losses suffered due to war and destruction, which also tore apart the once extensive collection of her works in Dresden. Carriera only painted a few versions of the Four Continents; of these, none survives as a complete set today. The first version was commissioned around 1720 by the Roman Cardinal Silvio Valenti Gonzaga for his large collection of paintings, where it remained until 1777 at least. Of the works in the Dresden version, which differs slightly in terms of detail, the personifications of Europe, Asia, and America have been missing since the Second World War. Fortunately, however, photographic images of these war losses have survived. In the early 1920s, these pastels, along with many others by Carriera, were removed from view and deposited in storage as “reserves.” About ten years later, in 1933, around 30 of the pastels were transferred to Dresden’s Residenzschloss (Royal Palace), which was now being used as a museum. Here, in the Gelber Salon (Yellow Salon), the female allegories of Europe, Asia, and America were displayed alongside other works in an exhibition entitled August der Starke und seine Zeit (Augustus the Strong and His Time). In 1942, however, all of the pastels from the exhibition at the Residenzschloss were packed into crates and transported to a now unknown location. Since then, there has been no trace of the works that were shown in the Gelber Salon, and no way of knowing if they were stolen or destroyed. RE Literature: Riedel, Wenzel 1765, p. 241; Woermann 1887, p. 764; Sani 1988, p. 299, no. 169; Henning, Marx 2007, repr. p. 170; Sani 2007, pp. 190f., no. 190b; Henning 2009, p. 320, II–5; Jeffares online edition, J.21.1516. · 151 · Rosalba Carriera Africa Pastel on paper, 33 × 27 cm Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, gal. no. P 32 This pastel personification of Africa is part of a series of allegories of the Four Continents, along with Europe, Asia, and America (P 31, P 33, and P 34 are war losses). Rosalba Carriera’s depictions of what, at the time, were believed to be the Four Continents followed in an artistic tradition of representing the continents as female allegories – as, for example, Cesare Ripa had done in his Iconologia (1603). For her personification of Africa Carriera also borrowed the attributes of snakes and a scorpion from Ripa’s influential work. It was not until later in the 17th and early 18th century that skin colour became a further distinguishing feature, and Carriera uncritically adopted this aspect. In her depiction, the subject’s black skin appears even darker in contrast to her white teeth, lightcoloured turban, and shiny pearl necklace. Viewers are thus invited to contemplate skin colour as a matter of visual pleasure and worldly knowledge. From today’s perspective, the representation or objectification of black skin for viewing pleasure seems questionable, despite the rouge and elegant necklaces the figure wears (echoing the style of the other continents). Unlike the personifications of Europe, Asia, and America, the pastel of Africa was not shown in the exhibition at the Residenzschloss in Dresden in 1933, most likely for racist reasons connected to National Socialist ideology. This exclusion is probably also the reason why the allegory of Africa survived the war intact, as it had already been at the Schloss Weesenstein evacuation site for several years. As a result, Africa is the only remaining example of Carriera’s rare Four Continents series. RE Literature: Riedel, Wenzel 1765, p. 241; Woermann 1887, p. 764; Sani 1988, p. 299, no. 171; Henning 2007, repr. p. 33; Sani 2007, pp. 190f., no. 190d; Henning 2009, p. 301, I–22; Wunsch 2020; Jeffares online edition, F.21.1501; cf. Ripa 1603, pp. 332–339; cf. the Gonzaga series: Morselli, Vodret 2005, pp. 313, 363, nos. 438– 441. · 152 · Rosalba Carriera Clio, the Muse of History Pastel on paper, 62.5 × 50 cm Private collection Formerly Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, gal. no. P 35 Fixed to backing board: Three Kings token (type 1a w t). In June 1924, this pastel was sold together with gal. nos. P 42 and P 120 to fund the acquisition of Max Liebermann’s painting Siblings (Children Playing) (gal. no. 2457 F) from the Berlin art dealer Carl Nicolai. The pastel, with its original frame, was bought by a private collector and remains in family ownership. The young woman in Carriera’s painting looks upwards with a pensive expression. While her left shoulder is covered by a cloak, her chemise has slipped down her right arm and reveals her breast. The crown of laurel in the subject’s hair identifies her as one of the nine Muses, daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus. Here, the traditional attribute of a roll of papyrus has been replaced by the more modern attribute of an open book. Clio, muse of history, is writing upon its pages with a quill pen; her record of events provides insight into the past. While Clio is depicted in this pastel as the patron of history, a similar work by Carriera of roughly the same size is held at the Kunsthalle Karlsruhe under the title Die Poesie (Poetry) (no. 674). This pastel exemplifies the numerous sales of artworks from the Dresden collection that took place in the 1920s above all. It was sold, along with two other works by Carriera, to fund the acquisition, from the Berlin art dealer Carl Nicolai, of the 1876 painting Siblings (Children Playing) by the Berlin Impressionist Max Liebermann. That work is now in the collection of the Galerie Neue Meister/ Albertinum, Dresden. Having been deaccessioned in 1924, Carriera’s pastel is now returning briefly to its former location, almost 100 years later. Literature: Riedel, Wenzel 1765, p. 239; Woermann 1887, p. 764; Sani 1988, p. 319, no. 322; Sani 2007, pp. 328–331, no. 373; Henning 2009, p. 330, III–7; Jeffares online edition, J.21.0689.
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