Carriera in Modena

Not long after her successful trip to France, by the end of June 1723, Carriera left Venice again to travel with her mother and Giovanna to Modena where, from July to November, she stayed at the court of Rinaldo III d’Este (1655–1737) to paint the portraits of his daughters.

D’Este had met Carriera before: some time between 1710 and 1720 the duke himself had posed for the Venetian artist, and two years before Carriera's arrival in Modena, while she was still in Paris, the envoy extraordinary and resident minister of France of the Modenese court, Giovanni Marquis Rangoni, had advised the duke to hire the one female artist whose ‘paintbrush would be able to raise the curiosity of the most distinguished people.’

During her stay in Modena, which offered her little amusement, Carriera remained at the court of the Este family to complete the requested pastel portraits of Benedetta Ernestina (1697–1737), Anna Amalia Giuseppa (1699–1778) and Enrichetta Anna Sofia (1702–1777). A nun, named Sister Maria Beatrice Davia, seemed to have played the role of secretary and adviser of the princesses, that is, as an intermediary figure between the three young ladies and Carriera. Rinaldo's intention for these portraits was to send them to various European courts in the hope of finding suitable husbands for the princesses. One of the recipients was Benedicte Henriette (1652–1730) in Paris, widow of Duke Johann Friedrich von Braunschweig-Lüneburg (1625–1679) and grandmother of Rinaldo. Another recipient was Duchess Louise Françoise de Bourbon (1673–1743), whose son Louis Henri de Bourbon (1692–1740) was supposed to marry Enrichetta Anna Sofia, the youngest princess. Ultimately, these marriage plans were unsuccessful and in 1740 Enrichetta became the wife of the Duke of Parma, Antonio Farnese (1679–1731).

Interestingly, Violante Beatrice of Bavaria, who was married to the Granprincipe Ferdinand de’ Medici (1663–1713), is known to have kept a series of portraits in the Villa Lapeggi that had undergone a noteworthy change of function from these dynastic portraits to gallery-of-beauty portraits. Her collection served to fulfil her ambition as a woman collector to present a series of pretty young women depicted by another woman. Owner, subjects and artist thus formed a rather exceptional triangle purely al feminile.