The secret in the gaze - by Valentina Casarotto

The book I am telling you about today was recommended to me by a number of people, including one of the best friends of Windows on Art, namely Grace, whose advice was instrumental... ! It is titled Il segreto nello sguardo (The Secret in the Gaze), subtitled Memoirs of Rosalba Carriera prima pittrice d’Europa (published by Angelo Colla Editore) and is written by Valentina Casarotto, an art historian by profession (she also worked at the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice and, we read on the book’s website, it was in front of Rosalba Carriera’s pastels that the idea for the book was born) and a high school teacher in Cittadella, in the province of Padua.

The secret in Valentina Casarotto’slook

What is the book about? It is nothing less than a historical novel whose protagonist is the great artist Rosalba Carriera, to whom we also dedicated a podcast. In the case in point, Rosalba Carriera, who is made to speak by the author in the first person, traces, in a long flashback, her entire life, from childhood to European success, telling us about her encounters with various characters, including prestigious patrons, distinguished patrons, and fellow painters. Valentina Casarotto’s work is set in 18th-century Venice, although the central part of the novel (and probably also the most intense part) takes place in Paris, where Rosalba Carriera stayed between 1720 and 1721.

After reading the first few pages, you will probably feel like ending the reading prematurely, since the beginning is not the most original: after Rosalba Carriera, now at the end of her life, declares her intent to want to tell her memoirs, we are brought back to 1683. Rosalba’s family gives hospitality to a fortune-teller who, in order to repay herself, reads tarot cards to Rosalba herself and her two sisters, predicting, of course, the child’s rosy and glorious future. But from the very next chapters, the story continues with curious episodes, stimulating events and some really interesting gimmicks that will push the reader to always want to know the continuation of the narrative: even those who already know the story of Rosalba Carriera will be surprised by some of the expedients thought up by Valentina Casarotto to liven up the succession of events. One example out of all, among those that will strike you the most, is the dialogue between Rosalba Carriera and King Frederick IV of Denmark during which we learn why the sovereign, in the portrait executed by the artist and now preserved in Frederiksborg, is depicted with that melancholic expression. Of course, it must be said that this is a narrative device, but it must also be emphasized that all the events narrated are plausible since Valentina Casarotto never forgets, in her novel, the rigor of an accurate historical and art-historical reconstruction of the environments, times, and places.

During the novel we will then have the opportunity to familiarize ourselves with some of the protagonists of the cultural and artistic life of the 18th century, such as Antoine Watteau, who has a central role in the story, or Anton Maria Zanetti the Younger who is another of the main protagonists, passing then through several of the artists of the time who although relegated to marginal roles often intervene during the events: this is the case, for example, with one of the leading painters of the time, Marco Ricci, with whom Rosalba at one point in the narrative has a lively dialogue about a commission from Joseph Smith, the famous art collector who was also a patron of Canaletto (the great Vedutist painter is often mentioned in the narrative and is the subject of dialogues, but never appears in the events).

What is most surprising in reading The Secret in the Gaze is the extraordinary refinement of the prose: in my opinion, there are hardly any novels around nowadays that manage to surpass this in terms of a finesse that can be seen everywhere... in the dialogues, in the descriptions of places, objects and works of art, in the reconstruction of historical events. Thus one senses not only a very serious work of art-historical research behind the book, but also a great deal of accuracy along with great passion in the writing of the text. And although Valentina Casarotto is in her narrative debut, she reveals herself to be not only a careful art historian but also a richly imaginative, certainly talented and highly refined author. Not least for the fact that narrative talent is required to derive a compelling novel, such as The Secret in the Gaze is, from the uneventful biography of an artist like Rosalba Carriera.

Finally, it is a book that does not require prior knowledge of art history: anyone can read it and approach Rosalba Carriera’s painting. The only drawback is that not all of the paintings mentioned in the novel have the image in the appendix (the aforementioned portrait of Frederick IV of Denmark, for example, is absent), and this often makes reading more uncomfortable if one wants to have the work in mind while reading the story.

So I was pleased to have taken the advice and read Valentina Casarotto’s The Secret in the Ga ze, and so in turn I extend the advice to those reading this review: a refined and in its own way also compelling novel, which will also help to make us familiar and close to the figure of Rosalba Carriera, who may perhaps seem a bit distant if we observe her pastels in person, but another of Valentina Casarotto’s merits is that she has bridged this distance with a passionate story that you will surely enjoy and engage with.

The secret in the look
by Valentina Casarotto
Angelo Colla Publisher, 2012
325 pages
16,50 €
www.ilsegretonellosguardo.it

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.