Clemens August of Bavaria

Rosalba Carriera was one of the most important female artists of the eighteenth century: after specialis-ing in miniatures on ivory, she turned mainly to pastels and met with such success throughout Europe that she was called to Paris, Vienna, and Dresden. Her studio in Venice became an essential place to visit for important personalities, including this aristocratic German man of the church, who had his por-trait made in 1727 while on his way to Rome to be appointed Bishop of Viterbo by the Pope. The paint-ing plays on the contrast between different tones of white – of the powdered wig, of the face, of the er-mine fur, and of the long collar – and on the prince’s penetrating eyes, which capture our attention and distract from his minor defects, like the wart on his cheek and the size of his nose. Another version of the same portrait is now in Dresden.