URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Winter_2015_Melissa-McCarthy

Catherine Sama, professor of Italian and film/media

In 1720, the Venetian artist Rosalba Carriera (1673-1757) traveled with her mother and two sisters by coach to Paris, where she would spend a year creating portraits of aristocrats, royals, and other artists before returning home. Carriera pioneered a new style of portraiture using pastels instead of oil paints, rising to prominence with her artwork. In Venice, her house on the Grand Canal became a popular stop on the Grand Tour of foreign travelers, who would take home pastel portraits as souvenirs. Today, Carriera’s artwork is displayed in art museums throughout Europe and the United States. How was Carriera able to become one of the most famous artists in Europe during the first half of the 18th century, when there were so few female artists, writers and public figures? These are some of the questions University of Rhode Island (URI) Professor of Italian and film/media Catherine Sama has considered. Fortunately, to aid her in pursuing answers, Sama can tap into Carriera’s prolific letter writing; more than 600 letters of her correspondence have been preserved. Interpretat ionAcross Time In 2013, Sama earned a highly competitive fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities to study Carriera’s career through her correspondence and artwork, and to explore the connections between literary and artistic circles in 18th century Europe. “My project is to translate, annotate, and interpret Carriera’s letters, to understand how a Venetian woman from a lower middle class family established a new genre of art,” Sama explains. Her book will also make most of the letters from the correspondence available to readers of English for the first time. In her early work, Carriera helped her mother by mastering the complex patterns of fine lace and learning the business of producing luxury items. The fad for snuff—ground and flavored tobacco inhaled through the nose—provided another opportunity for Carriera.

"My project is to translate, annotate, and interpret Carriera’s let ters. " -Catherine Sama

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Carriera, R., Pavanello, G., & Galleria di Palazzo Cini a S. Vio (Venice, Italy). (2007). Rosalba Carriera: Prima pittrice de l’Europa.

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