The fame of Rosalba Carriera (1673-1757), in fact the most famous Italian artist in eighteenth-century Europe, had no boundaries. Everyone from English lords to the princes of the Empire agreed on his excellence in portraits. He was perhaps the only artist to find unanimous consensus both among the sophisticated connoisseurs of the international beau monde and among the traditionalist and conservative Venetian aristocracy. For almost half a century the courts of Europe tried to secure his services, yet, despite frequent invitations and generous proposals, except for three stays at the court of the King of France, the Duke of Modena and that of the Emperor in Vienna, he preferred remain in Venice, where he worked incessantly throughout his life.

She is responsible for the most acute portrait of the characters of Venetian and European society of the eighteenth century, and her contribution to French portraiture itself is fundamental: she interpreted in an incomparable way the ideals of grace and elegance of an entire era, that "happy life" has now entered the collective imagination and with which we identify the ancien régime.

In addition to dedicating herself to pastel portraits, Rosalba Carriera was an extraordinary painter of miniatures on ivory, or rather the one who inaugurated this genre, elevating it from a craft practice to a true art. Through an innovative technique, Rosalba manages to bring, for the first time, the loose and vibrant brushstroke of painting on canvas onto the tiny surface of the ivory bases. The success was immediate. There was no traveler who did not aspire to have a miniature portrait of Rosalba made during his Venetian stay; however, today it is not so frequent to come across these small images, indeed, their number is much smaller than crayons.

On this occasion, a retrospective is dedicated to Rosalba Carriera as a miniaturist which presents 36 works to the public, together with pastels, documents, drawings, prints, coming from the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, other institutions and private collections. This is an extremely rare opportunity to admire these works of extraordinary fragrance and delicacy, now classics of Rococo art, in the year in which three hundred and fifty years have passed since the artist's birth.