Lot Essay
After four pastels by Rosalba in the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden (B. Sani, Rosalba Carriera, Turin, 2007, pp. 190-1, nos. 190a-d). The primary versions of this series were commissioned by Cardinal Silvio Valenti Gonzaga and are now lost, but appear in a picture by Panini dated 1749, now in the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (F. Arisi, Gian Paolo Panini e i fasti della Roma del'700, Rome, 1986, no. 400). There are minor differences between the Gonzaga and Dresden series, the present pastels following those in Dresden. Asia's incense burner is in her left rather than her right hand, Africa's eyes are turned to the right while here they are turned to the left, Europe's head and eyes are to the right rather than the left and America's arrows are at a different angle.