Fire or Winter

Rosalba Carriera (1675-1757)
18th Century, Pastel on paper

Among the allegorical depictions attributable to Rosalba Carriera, this image of a young woman warming her right hand by the fire leads us to believe that it is part of a series relating to the four Elements or the four Seasons. The allegory-portrait is characterised by the simplicity of the clothing: the woman wears a long-sleeved dress, trimmed with fur at the neckline, and, on her head, a blue cap of the same fabric as the dress, which covers the nape of her neck and comes to a point at the centre of her forehead. The individuality of the character is evident, even if she avoids a direct interaction with the viewer by turning her gaze to one side, following the gesture of her hand. The action of warming takes on symbolic meaning through the presence of the vase with fire, to be interpreted as an attribute of this element. An allusion to Winter cannot be ruled out however: in Rosalba Carriera's work, the depiction of Winter with the image of a young woman in a fur coat warming her hand recurs in a series of the Four Seasons that is held in a private collection.