Vittore Carpaccio

The Entombment of Christ ( Gemäldegalerie Berlin )

The Dream of Saint Ursula (1495)

Vittore Carpaccio (* around 1465 in Venice; † 1525/26 in Venice) was an important painter and draftsman of the early Renaissance in Venice .

Life and major works

Carpaccio grew up in Venice as the son of the furrier Scarpazo, this Venetian form of name still appears in the signature of his earliest surviving work, a Christ Salvator , around 1485/1490. Only the style of his early works provides information about his education. It is assumed that he was a pupil of Gentile Bellini or a painter from his circle, but influences of older Venetians such as Alvise Vivarini , Antonello da Messina (around 1430–1479) and Giovanni Bellini (1437–1516) have been shown.

The main work of his early days, the paintings of the nine-part cycle Legend of St. Ursula , was created for the scuola of the same name in the years 1490–1495. It marks the beginning of orders for picture cycles for at least three more scuole . In the 1490s, the genre painting of the two Venetian noble ladies on the balcony (formerly referred to as “two courtesans”) was created, which is unusual in terms of motifs. It once formed a coherent table with hunting in the lagoon . Another highlight of his work is the series of pictures (1502–1507) still hanging at the place of origin, the Scuola di S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni . From 1511–20 he created five paintings for the Scuola di Santo Stefano, of which only four can be seen today in the museums in Berlin, Milan, Paris and Stuttgart. In old age he also worked for churches in Dalmatia and Istria, where his son Benedetto also settled as a painter.

Carpaccio used the scenery of his picture narrations to reproduce the cityscape of Venice and its closely observed everyday life, its customs and celebrations. The topicality of the Turkish wars is reflected in the allegorical background of his themes and the splendid design of some of the motifs. The episodes are stylized more poetically than with pathos. Hardly any reliable portraits of Carpaccio have survived. His symbolically enriched imagery shows how well-read and educated he was. From the perspective of that time, there are also revolutionary objects as details, such as glasses, which were still quite unknown in 1502. The architectures have something exotic and fantastic about them, but they are clearly built, firmly outlined and follow a strictly geometric perspective. He adorns the landscape with great fiction and detail. The light in all its variations, from dawn to the indirect incidence of light in the interiors, plays a special role in Carpaccio - even if you consider how much this aspect generally determines Venetian painting. A characteristic color palette, especially in the red tones, plays together with this. Carpaccio's late work is seen as weaker, a certain paralysis, the diminishing clarity of color and atmosphere can be traced back to an increasing proportion of workshop assistants.

Works (selection)

Unless otherwise stated, these are paintings on canvas.
The table can be sorted by columns (click on the header).


title	year	Dimensions	collection
Christ Salvator between the four evangelists	1485-1490		Riverdale / NY, Stanley Moss Collection
Consecration of St. Stephen	1511	148 × 231 cm	Berlin, Gemäldegalerie
Entombment of Christ	1500 approx.	145 × 185 cm	Berlin, Gemäldegalerie
Young knight	1510	219 × 145 cm	Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
Controversy of St. Stephen	1514	147 × 142 cm	Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera
The miracle of the cross relic on the Rialto	around 1496	365 × 389 cm	Venice, Accademia
Meditation on passion	1510 approx.	71 × 87 cm	New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Sermon of St. Stephen at the gates of Jerusalem	1511–14 approx.	152 × 195 cm	Paris, Louvre
Stoning of St. Stephen	1520	149 × 170 cm	Stuttgart, State Gallery
Hunting in the lagoon , on wood	1490 approx.	75 × 64 cm	Malibu, California , J. Paul Getty Museum
Christ with the instruments of torture	1496	162 × 162	Udine, Galleria d'Arte Antica
Ursula cycle: 1. Arrival of the English ambassadors	1496-1498	275 × 589 cm	Venice, Accademia
Ursula cycle: 2. Farewell to the ambassadors	1496-1498	280 × 253 cm	Venice, Accademia
Ursula cycle: 3rd return of the ambassadors	1496-1498	297 × 527 cm	Venice, Accademia
Ursula cycle: 4th meeting of betrothed and embarkation of pilgrims	1495	280 × 611	Venice, Accademia
Ursula cycle: 5th reception of the pilgrims by Pope Cyriacus outside the walls of Rome	1492-1494	281 × 307 cm	Venice, Accademia
Ursula cycle: 6. The dream of St. Ursula	1495?	274 × 267 cm	Venice, Accademia
Ursula cycle: 7th St. Ursula, the pilgrims and the Pope arrive in Cologne	1490	280 × 255 cm	Venice, Accademia
Ursula cycle: 8th martyrdom of the pilgrims and burial of St. Ursula	1493	271 × 561 cm	Venice, Accademia
Ursula cycle: 9. Transfiguration of St. Ursula and her companions	1491	481 × 336 cm	Venice, Accademia
The Patriarch of Grado heals a man possessed	1494	365 × 389 cm	Venice, Accademia
Offering in the temple (on wood)	1490-1495	421 × 236 cm	Venice, Accademia
Two waiting Venetian women ("Two Courtesans") (on wood)	1490 approx.	94 × 64 cm	Venice, Museo Correr
St. George kills the dragon	1502-1507	136 × 354 cm	Venice, Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni
St. George brings the dragon into the city	1502-1507	136 × 355 cm	Venice, Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni
St. George baptizes King Aius	1502-1507	136 × 355 cm	Venice, Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni
St. Trifonius frees the daughter of the emperor Gordianus	1508?	141 × 300 cm	Venice, Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane	1502	144 × 104 cm	Venice, Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni
The calling of St. Matthew	1502	144 × 114 cm	Venice, Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni
St. Jerome brings the lion to the monastery	1502–1507 approx.	144 × 208 cm	Venice, Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni
Death of St. Jerome	1502	144 × 208 cm	Venice, Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni
St. Jerome in the case	1502–1507 approx.	144 × 208 cm	Venice, Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni
The Holy Family with two donors	1505	90 × 136 cm	Lisbon , Museu Calouste Gulbenkian
The reading Mother of God	1505 approx.	78 × 51 cm, originally on wood	Washington, National Gallery of Art
Madonna and Child	1505 - 1510 approx.	84.8 x 68.3 cm	Washington, National Gallery of Art
The Flight into Egypt	1515 approx.	72 × 111 cm, on wood	Washington, National Gallery of Art
St. Catherine and St. Veneranda	1500 approx.		Verona , Castelvecchio Museum

Exhibitions

March 7th to June 28th 2015: “Carpaccio. Vittore e Benedetto da Venezia all'Istria. L'autunno magico di un maestro ”, exhibition in Conegliano , Palazzo Sarcinelli, Via XX Settembre.

literature

Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz : Carpaccio, Vittore. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 935-936. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
A. Gentili: Carpaccio, Vittore . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 16, Saur, Munich a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-598-22756-6 , pp. 528-532.
Ines Kehl: Vittore Carpaccio's cycle of Ursula legends from the Scuola di Sant'Orsola in Venice. A Venetian illusion (= manuscripts of art history in the Wernerschen Verlagsgesellschaft 36 =.) Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 1992. ISBN 3-88462-935-2
Jan Lauts : Carpaccio. Paintings and drawings . Complete edition. Phaidon-Verlag, Cologne 1962.
Vittorio Sgarbi: Carpaccio . Hirmer Verlag, Munich 1999. ISBN 3-7774-8320-6

Web links

Commons : Vittore Carpaccio - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Vittore Carpaccio at Google Arts & Culture
Literature by and about Vittore Carpaccio in the catalog of the German National Library
Web Gallery of Art
More pictures
Descriptive list of works

Individual evidence

↑ Historical illustration of glasses in Vittore Carpaccio's Death of St. Jerome. In: optikum, specialist magazine for ophthalmic optics and optometry. February 16, 2020, accessed on February 18, 2020 (German).

personal data
SURNAME	Carpaccio, Vittore
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Scarpazza, Vettore
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Italian painter
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1465
PLACE OF BIRTH	Venice
DATE OF DEATH	around 1525
Place of death	Venice

[1] Historical illustration of glasses in Vittore Carpaccio's Death of St. Jerome. In: optikum, specialist magazine for ophthalmic optics and optometry. February 16, 2020, accessed on February 18, 2020 (German).