Pick of the week

Having recently admired a courageous and honest self-portrait by Rosalba Carriera (1673–1757) in the Royal Collection, I was drawn to her 17½in by 141∕3in pastel of Cleopatra (right) about to dissolve the pearl and coolly gauging Mark Antony’s reaction. Prettier, certainly, but for all the softness inherent in the medium, this too is a real woman. It was with Galleria Previtali of Bergamo at about €100,000.