Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART. Washigton
from November 20, 2022, through February 12, 2023
DETAIL of Two Women on a Balcony, c. 1492/1494 
Vittore Carpaccio is one of the most beloved painters
of early Renaissance Italy, especially admired as the artist who captures
the sanctity and splendor of Venice at the turn of the sixteenth century.
The exhibition presents 45 paintings and 30 drawings
HIGHLIGHTS
Vittore Carpaccio. The Flight into Egypt, c. 1516/ 1518
oil on panel, painted surface: 72 x 111 cm (28 3/8 x 43 11/16 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Andrew W. Mellon Collection
DETAIL of The Flight into Egypt
DETAIL of The Flight into Egypt
Vittore Carpaccio’s large narrative canvases painted for local religious confraternities bring sacred history to life, but he was equally active in producing smaller paintings to decorate the homes of prosperous Venetians. Usually these were intended as aids to private devotion, but often, too, they were secular in subject, and showed scenes from classical mythology or everyday life.
Vittore Carpaccio. Saint George and the Dragon, 1516
oil on canvas, overall: 180 x 226 cm (70 7/8 x 89 in.)
Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore, Benedicti Claustra Onlus, Venice
Courtesy of Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore – Benedicti Claustra onlus
DETAIL of Saint George and the Dragon
DETAIL of Saint George and the Dragon
Vittore Carpaccio. Virgin Reading, c. 1510
oil on canvas transferred from panel, overall: 78 x 51 cm (30 11/16 x 20 1/16 in.)
framed: 119.7 x 86.4 x 10 cm (47 1/8 x 34 x 3 15/16 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Samuel H. Kress Collection
Vittore Carpaccio. A Young Knight, 1510
oil on canvas, overall: 218 x 151 cm (85 13/16 x 59 7/16 in.)
framed: 253.6 x 188.6 x 11 cm (99 13/16 x 74 1/4 x 4 5/16 in)
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid © Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
DETAIL of A Young Knight
Vittore Carpaccio. Birth of the Virgin, c. 1502/1503
oil on canvas, overall: 128.5 x 127.5 cm (50 9/16 x 50 3/16 in.)
Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
DETAIL of Birth of the Virgin
Vittore Carpaccio. Saint Augustine in His Study, shortly after 1502
oil and tempera on canvas, overall: 141 x 211 cm (55 1/2 x 83 1/16 in.)
framed: 143.3 x 214.7 cm (56 7/16 x 84 1/2 in.)
Scuola Dalmata dei Santi Giorgio e Trifone, Venice. Photo: Matteo De Fina
DETAIL of Saint Augustine in His Study
DETAIL of Saint Augustine in His Study
Vittore Carpaccio. Meditation on the Passion of Christ, c. 1494-1496
oil on panel, overall: 66.5 x 84.5 cm (26 3/16 x 33 1/4 in.)
framed: 87.9 x 105.7 x 7.6 cm (34 5/8 x 41 5/8 x 3 in.)
Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1911 (11.118)
DETAIL of Meditation on the Passion of Christ
Vittore Carpaccio. Fishing and Fowling on the Lagoon (recto);
Letter Rack (verso), c. 1492/ 1494
oil on panel, overall: 75.4 x 63.8 cm (29 11/16 x 25 1/8 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program
DETAIL of Fishing and Fowling on the Lagoon
DETAIL of Fishing and Fowling on the Lagoon
Vittore Carpaccio. Two Women on a Balcony, c. 1492/1494
oil on panel, overall: 94.5 x 63.5 cm (37 3/16 x 25 in.)
Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Museo Correr, Venice
The richness and diversity of his costumes and architecture embody the very essence of Venice five hundred years ago, a bustling, multiethnic crossroads of West and East. Carpaccio adds a taste for the poetic and fanciful in his work, creating fantastical settings enriched with contemporary detail.
DRAWINGS
More of Carpaccio’s drawings survive than those of any other Venetian painter of his generation. Outstanding works on their own, the drawings include rough sketches for paintings presented in the exhibition, along with meticulous preparatory drawings for paintings too large to travel for this show. Preparatory
Vittore Carpaccio. Virgin Reading with the Christ Child (recto)
Virgin Adoring the Child with the Young Baptist (verso), c.1496-1497
Pen and brown ink over red chalk, on laid paper, overall: 12.8 x 9.4 cm (5 1/16 x 3 11/16 in.)
The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London. Bridgeman Images
Vittore Carpaccio. Studies of a Seated Youth in Armor, c. 1500-1505
black chalk, point of brush and gray wash highlighted with white gouache on blue paper
overall: 19 x 18 cm (7 1/2 x 7 1/16 in.) framed: 53.34 x 40.64 cm (21 x 16 in.)
Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Elisa Whittelsey Collection,
The Elisa Whittelsey Fund, 1954
STATEMENT
Kaywin Feldman, director, National Gallery of Art.
“Our visitors will be delighted by Carpaccio’s vivid and dynamic paintings that bring to life Venice in the 15th and 16th centuries. Through his masterful storytelling, Carpaccio illustrated the maritime empire during a fascinating period when it was a cultural crossroads between West and East”.
CURATORS
The exhibition is curated by Peter Humfrey, internationally recognized scholar of 15th- and 16th-century Venetian painting and Professor Emeritus of art history at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, in collaboration with Andrea Bellieni, curator at the Musei Civici di Venezia, and Gretchen Hirschauer, curator of Italian and Spanish painting at the National Gallery of Art.
Organization and Support
The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art and Musei Civici di Venezia.
The exhibition is made possible by the leadership support of Constance J. Milstein.
Additional funding is provided by the Director’s Circle of the National Gallery of Art and the Annenberg Fund for the International Exchange of Art, the Embassy of Italy, and the Italian Cultural Institute.
The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
CATALOGUE
AUTHORS: Peter Humfrey, Susannah Rutherglen, Deborah Howard, Catherine Whistler, Joanna Dunn, Linda Borean, Andrea Bellieni, Sara Menato
352 pages
300 illustrations
Size: 9.75 × 11.5 inches
With new research and insightful scholarship, curator Peter Humfrey, one of the world’s leading experts on Venetian Renaissance art, and this catalog’s seven contributing authors bring new perspectives to the work of this extraordinary artist, showing us why Vittore Carpaccio has long been celebrated as the master storyteller of Renaissance Venice.
Carpaccio was a consummate draftsman, and he prepared his paintings with numerous drawings, ranging from rough preliminary sketches to beautifully refined studies. A generous selection of both paintings and drawings is presented in splendid detail in this richly illustrated volume.
The book is available for purchase in the shops in the West Building and East Building, and at shop.nga.gov (online); (800) 697-9350 (phone); or [email protected] (email).
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
https://www.nga.gov/