Allegory of the Four Elements - Water, Air, Earth and Fire, Rosalba Carriera - Fire
This series of the four elements was realized in pastel on paper, a technique widespread in the 1700s. Rosalba Carriera, a Venetian painter, became one of the portraitists most sought-after by the European nobility and sovereigns for her great skill at achieving effects of soft glowing color, immediacy and psychological insight in pastel. Allegorical series consisting of four personifications, of the continents, the seasons, or the elements, were a particularly popular typology in this period. Carriera completed this work between 1741 and 1743.
