13 1720 Admission to the Accademia Clementina in Bologna on 14 January 1720. 1720/21 In March, after much hesitation, Rosalba accepts Crozat’s invitation to visit Paris with her mother, sisters, and her brother-inlaw Antonio Pellegrini. They stay at Crozat’s hôtel, where they meet eminent personalities such as John Law, Charles de La Fosse, Jean-Antoine Watteau, Nicolas de Largillière, François de Troy, Antoine and Charles- Antoine Coypel, Nicolas Vleughels, and Hyacinthe Rigaud. Her Parisian diary records her triumphal success: mentioned are the numerous portrait commissions she accepts as a sought-after artist, among them a number of portraits of the French King Louis XV. On 26 October 1720, she is accepted by the French Académie royale de peinture et sculpture as its first non-French female artist. She returns to Venice with her family in April–May 1721. 1723 Rosalba works for the British dealer Joseph Smith, who serves as her agent and sends her pastels to clients in England, but who also acquires 38 of her works himself. These are subsequently acquired by George III, King of Great Britain and Ireland. Her works enjoy great favour among the British upper classes in particular. Carriera spends five months in Modena, where she executes portraits of three princesses from the ducal d’Este family. 1728 The childless Carriera accepts Felicità Sartori – the fourteen-year-old niece of engraver Antonio Dall’Agata, a friend of hers – into her home as a student. Numerous letters document their friendship, which continues throughout her life, long after Sartori has left her studio. 1730 Rosalba travels to the imperial court in Vienna, where she executes numerous portraits of the Habsburgs. 1737 Death of Rosalba’s beloved sister Giovanna, an indispensable assistant. 1738 Death of Rosalba’s mother, who had energetically supported her eldest daughter. Working at various times in Carriera’s workshop are Margherita Terzi, Marianna Carlevarijs, and Luisa Bergalli, along with Felicità Sartori’s sister Angioletta. 1746 Worsening difficulties with her eyesight compel Carriera to temporarily abandon artistic activities. Multiple operations restore her vision, but only temporarily. She is cared for by her sister Angela. Inaugurated in Dresden in the picture gallery that occupies the converted Electoral Mews is the singular “Cabinet of Rosalba,” containing only work in pastel, the vast majority of which by Carriera. 1751 On 11 January Carriera dictates a letter to Mariette informing him that she is now completely blind. 1755 The first biography of Rosalba Carriera, by an unknown abbot, is published under the title Memorie intorno alla vita di Rosalba Carriera, celebre pittrice veneziana, scritte dall’Abate NN (Memoirs on the life of Rosalba Carriera, the most celebrated female painter in Venice, composed by the Abbot NN). 1757 Rosalba Carriera dies on 15 April 1757, aged 84. She is interred in the family tomb in the parish church of Santi Vito e Modeste (since destroyed) alongside her sister Giovanna. She ranks among the most celebrated and prosperous Venetian artists of her century.
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