Rosalba Carriera (1673-1757), a Venetian Rococo painter, was best known for her innovative approach to pastels, which had previously been used for informal drawings and preparatory sketches.
She was also credited with pastel as a medium for serious portraiture that redefined the Rococo manner.
In her younger years, she specialized in portrait miniatures.
Carriera would later become known for her pastel portraits, helping popularize the medium in eighteenth-century Europe.