The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

A Woman Putting Flowers in Her Hair

A Woman Putting Flowers in Her Hair

c. 1710
(Italian, 1675–1757)
Italy, 18th century
watercolor on ivory in a tortoiseshell pique-point frame
Framed: 10.6 x 12.7 cm (4 3/16 x 5 in.); Unframed: 8.6 x 10.5 cm (3 3/8 x 4 1/8 in.)
The Edward B. Greene Collection 1940.1203
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Its extraordinary thickness indicates that this is one of Carriera's earliest experiments painting on ivory.

Description

Scholars generally agree that Rosalba Carriera (1675-1757) developed the art of painting miniatures on ivory, in place of the traditional support of vellum, a fine animal skin. Although she became famous as a pastel painter, in her early career, Carriera decorated ivory snuff boxes-containers used to hold powdered tobacco taken by sniffing up the nostrils-for tourists. This miniature likely served as a lid to a snuff box, due to its elliptical shape in contrast to the oval or occasionally round shapes of most other miniatures. Although painters of ivory snuff boxes used watercolor, the same media artists used on vellum, the finished images on ivory were crude in comparison to those painted on vellum because ivory presents a greasy, non-absorbent surface, causing watercolor to run. Carriera revolutionized the art of watercolor painting on ivory through a process she termed her fondelli, or foundation. She developed a way in which to work in watercolor on ivory that emulated the soft powdery sophistication of her pastels. She used opaque gouache, essentially watercolor paint mixed with a gummy white, a combination of media which adhered to the oily surface of ivory. News of Carriera's innovation spread through Europe, and in the first few decades of the 1700s, most miniaturists abandoned vellum in favor of ivory.
  • 1924-1938
    Victor Emanuel Pollak, Vienna, Austria
    November 30, 1938
    (Sale: Sotheby’s, London, November 30, 1938, lot 125)
    1938-1940
    Edward B. Greene (1878-1957), Cleveland ,OH, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1940-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Edward Belden Greene. Portrait Miniatures ; The Edward B. Greene Collection. 1951. Mentioned: p. 38, cat. 84, p. 21; Reproduced: plate XXXVII archive.org
    Lister, Raymond, "The Edward B. Greene Collection of Portrait Miniatures", Apollo LV (Jan. 1952). p. 20
    Harris, Ann Sutherland, and Linda Nochlin. Women Artists, 1550-1950. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1976. cat. no. 42
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    Eschwey, Maymie. Portraits in Miniature: An Introductory Guide. Edina, Mn: Alpha editions, 1988. p. 32
    Carriera, Rosalba, and Bernardina Sani. Rosalba Carriera. Torino: U. Allemandi, 1988. p. 277, cat no. 17, fig. 15
    Sani, Bernardina, and Rosalba Carriera. Rosalba Carriera: 1673-1757 : maestra del pastello nell'Europa ancien régime. Torino: U. Allemandi, 2007. p. 71, no. 18
    Arenas, Amelia, and Tetsuo Kinoshita. Efude o totta redi: josei gaka no gohyakunen. Kyōto: Tankōsha, 2008. pp. 58-9
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 196-197
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    Banta, Andaleeb Badiee, Alexa Greist, and Theresa Kutasz Christensen. Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800. Fredericton, New Brunswick : Goose Lane Editions ; Toronto, Ontario : AGO ; Baltimore, Maryland : Baltimore Museum of Art, 2023. Mentioned, p. 203, cat. 97, p. 204, illus. p. 204
  • Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800. The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (co-organizer) (October 1, 2023-January 7, 2024) https://artbma.org/exhibition/making-her-mark-a-history-of-women-artists-in-europe-1400-1800.
    By Her Hand: Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy, 1500–1800. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT (organizer) (September 30, 2021-January 9, 2022); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (February 6-May 29, 2022).
    Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 10, 2013-February 16, 2014).
    Main Gallery Rotation (Gallery 202), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 5, 2009 - April 6, 2009).
    Women Artists: 1550-1950, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1976/12/21 - 1977/03/13); The University Art Museum, Austin, TX (1977/04/12 - 1977/06/12); Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA (1977/07/14 - 1977/09/04); The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (1977/10/08 - 1977/11/27).
    Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-October 17, 1993).
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    Internationalen Miniaturen-Ausstellung, Albertina, Vienna, Austria (May-June, 1924).
  • {{cite web|title=A Woman Putting Flowers in Her Hair|url=false|author=Rosalba Carriera|year=c. 1710|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1940.1203