Within the wide-ranging international network Carriera managed to build, there were only a few connections that led her to leave Venice, and only for a relatively short period of time. Her trip to France proved to be the most important and influential one in her entire career. As mentioned above, it really was owing to Crozat; through his perseverance and regular letters he eventually convinced the artist to come to Paris. In March 1720 Carriera departed, together with her mother and both of her sisters.

The first documentation of Crozat's attempts to lure her to his home is a missive he wrote to the artist on 6 January 1719. He laid out every detail of the journey for her, showing that he had already thought of absolutely everything, from the choice of the best time of the year to make such a trip, the road to take, all the way to where to stay. He let her know that she could move into his place, the hôtel or mansion on rue de Richelieu, one of the most magnificent private mansions in the city where he regularly housed artists, friends and acquaintances. It was also the place where he kept his illustrious collection of old master paintings. In his hôtel, he added, she would meet the widow of the famous painter Charles de la Fosse (1636–1716) and his greatniece Mademoiselle d’Argenon (c 1685–1747). She was a lady who, like herself, loved music, and she was a gifted singer; Crozat suggested Carriera could bring some sheets of music for her. He even offered the means to move around the city independently.

He reminded Carriera that from Paris she could easily travel to England, the country where she had become immensely famous and where he underlined, people loved portraits.