Rosalba Carriera (1673–1757) was a Venetian artist who helped turn pastel portraiture into a European obsession. Trained in a city famed for color and glamour, she began with delicate miniature portraits on ivory—often used as snuffbox lids—before discovering the medium that would define her: pastel. With it, she captured skin, silk, and light with a softness oil paint struggled to match, giving her sitters an almost breathing presence. Carriera’s fame spread fast. She welcomed aristocrats, diplomats, and travelers to her studio, and her portraits became the must-have souvenir of the Grand Tour. In 1720 she traveled to Paris, where her work dazzled the French elite and secured her election to the Académie Royale—an extraordinary honor for a woman artist of her era. Back in Venice, she continued to paint and influence taste across Europe, shaping the Rococo love of elegance, intimacy, and refined charm. Even as her eyesight failed later in life, her legacy endured: Carriera proved pastel could rival oil in prestige, and she helped open doors—however slowly—for women in professional art.