One of the many reasons I love living in London is having access to world-class museums and galleries (and for free!). Whenever I’m close to Trafalgar Square I pop into the National Gallery and have a little wander.
This time I went into one of the small rooms and found this portrait which stopped me in my tracks.
Some readers will remember my admiration for the late Dame Paula Rego whose use of pastels was masterful but the history of chalk pastels goes much further back as this piece shows.
It was only after reading the caption that I realised the artist was a woman. Created in the 1720s by Rosalba Carriera, this is another mistress of the medium who I had never heard of.
Look at the crisp rendition of embroidery.
And the softness of his hair in shadow.
I know blockbuster exhibitions of dead white male artists are still the norm but can we please celebrate and have more research into artists such as Carriera? She was one of the most celebrated artists of her time so it would be a fabulous project for a curator to get their teeth into.
