ABSTRACT
One might have expected that Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d’Argenville, who held the esteemed positions of Secretary and Counselor to King Louis XV of France, would be best known for his political work. Dezallier d’Argenville studied drawing and engraving with leading artists such as Bernard Picart, but his own artistic creativity eventually became eclipsed by an obsession for collecting art. Dezallier d’Argenville does not provide any kind of lengthy prologue or catalogue of worthy women preceding his discussions of these women, as was typically done by early modern biographers. Rosalba Carriera is one of the few early modern women artists to have been incorporated within the canon of significant artists, due to her quintessentially Rococo pastel portraits. Dezallier d’Argenville’s ambiguity towards this female wonder is additionally evidenced in his discussion of her style. The source of the portrait of Carriera published in Dezallier d’Argenville’s Abrege is presently unidentified.
