Die Parze Lachesis

Rosalba Carriera's 1735 depiction of Lachesis — one of the three Fates of classical mythology, whose role was to measure the thread of mortal life — represents the allegorical strand of her practice alongside portraiture. The Bavarian State Painting Collections hold this work, suggesting it entered German collections through the extensive eighteenth-century trade in Venetian art. In the Rococo era, allegorical figures were typically depicted with the softened, feminised features characteristic of the period's taste, and Lachesis, with her distaff or measuring rod, offered a subject at once learned and aesthetically pleasing. Carriera could draw on her experience in miniature painting, decorative work, and portraiture to create figure compositions that balanced classical reference with contemporary grace. The subject of fate and time's measurement also carried a certain melancholy undercurrent appropriate for the late phase of Carriera's own career, though whether this was intentional is impossible to determine.

Allegorical figures allowed Carriera to work more freely with pose and expression than formal portraits permitted. The attributes of Lachesis — likely a distaff, thread, or measure — are rendered as carefully as the figure itself, ensuring legibility for a classically educated viewer. Pastel's soft luminosity suits the otherworldly quality of a divine personification.