The Virgin Reading
c. 1505
Artist, Venetian, c. 1465 - 1525/1526

Carpaccio reimagined the Madonna and Child theme when he made this painting. Instead of wearing a traditional blue cloak, the Virgin Mary, or Madonna, is clothed in fashionable Venetian dress. Absorbed in her reading, she sits in an unconventional profile pose instead of looking out at viewers or attending to her infant son.
Today we only see a partial image of baby Jesus, resting on a pillow on the left. Scholars think the painting was cut down along the left side sometime in the 1700s. The picture’s original size and shape are unknown. The painting might have depicted only the Virgin and Child, or it might have been a larger work with other figures.
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on panel transferred to canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 78 × 51 cm (30 11/16 × 20 1/16 in.)
framed: 119.7 × 86.36 × 16.51 cm (47 1/8 × 34 × 6 1/2 in.) -
Accession
1939.1.354
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Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Said to have been acquired in Italy by "the travelling Earl of Exeter," John Cecil, 5th earl of Exeter [d. 1700], Burghley House, Northamptonshire, between 1690 and 1700;[1] by inheritance, probably to his son, John Cecil, 6th earl of Exeter [1674-1721], Burghley House; by inheritance, probably to his son, John Cecil, 7th Earl of Exeter [d. 1722], Burghley House; by inheritance, probably to his brother, Brownlow Cecil, 8th earl of Exeter [d. 1754], Burghley House; by inheritance, probably to his son, Brownlow Cecil, 9th earl of Exeter [1725-1793], Burghley House; by inheritance, probably to his nephew, Henry Cecil, 1st marquess [1801] of Exeter [1754-1804], Burghley House;[2] by inheritance to his son, Brownlow Cecil, 2nd marquess of Exeter [1795-1867], Burghley House; by inheritance to his son, William Alleyne Cecil, 3rd marquess of Exeter [1825-1895], Burghley House; (his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 9 June 1888, no. 297, as by Cima da Conegliano); Robert Henry [1850-1929] and Evelyn Holford [1856-1943] Benson, London and Buckhurst Park, Sussex; purchased 1927 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); sold March 1937 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1939 to NGA.
[1] According to Tancred Borenius, Catalogue of Italian Pictures...Collected by Robert and Evelyn Benson, London, 1914: 151, no. 76.
[2] In a letter of 12 November 1984 to Suzannah Fabing, Carol Dowd of the Getty Provenance Index provides references, the earliest from 1797, to a painting described as a "half-length of the Virgin Reading by Garofalo" that is probably the same as NGA 1939.1.354: A History or Description...of Burghley House, the Seat of the Right Honorable the Earl of Exeter, 1797: 71-72; Thomas Blore, A Guide to Burghley House, Northamptonshire, the seat of the Marquis of Exeter containing a catalogue of all the paintings, antiquities, etc. with biographical notices of the artists, 1815: 94; John P. Neale, Views of The Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, 6 vols., London, 1820: 3:unpaginated, entry for Burghley House, Northamptonshire. All the references place the painting in Burghley House.
[3] The Duveen Brothers letter confirming the sale of twenty-four paintings, including NGA 1939.1.354, is dated 9 March 1937; the provenance is given as "Benson Collection" (copy in NGA curatorial files; Box 474, Folder 5, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles). See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2354.
Associated Names
- Exeter, John Cecil, 5th Earl of
- Exeter, John Cecil, 6th Earl of
- Exeter, John Cecil, 7th Earl of
- Exeter, Brownlow Cecil, 8th Earl of
- Exeter, Brownlow Cecil, 9th Earl of
- Exeter, Henry Cecil, 1st marquess of
- Exeter, Brownlow Cecil, 2nd marquess of
- Exeter, William Alleyne Cecil, 3rd marquess of
- Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd.
- Robert Henry and Evelyn Holford Benson
- Duveen Brothers, Inc.
- Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Exhibition History
1894
Exhibition of Venetian Art, New Gallery, London, 1894-1895, no. 49.
1910
Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1910, no. 14, as A Female Saint Reading.
1912
A Collection of Pictures of the Early Venetian School and Other Works of Art, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1912, no. 12 (no. 17 and pl. XV in illustrated catalogue titled Early Venetian Pictures and Other Works of Art).
1927
Loan Exhibition of the Benson Collection of Old Italian Masters, City of Manchester Art Gallery, 1927, no. 39, as A Lady Reading.
1939
Masterpieces of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300-1800, New York World's Fair, 1939, no. 36, as Lady Reading.
2022
Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Fondazione Musei Civici, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 2022-2023, no. 50, repro.
Bibliography
1895
Gronau, Georg. "Correspondence d'Angleterre." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 13 (1895): 259.
Berenson, Bernard. Venetian Painting, Chiefly before Titian, at the Exhibition of Venetian Art. London, 1895: 23-24.
1901
Venturi, Adolfo. Storia dell’arte italiana. 11 vols. Milan, 1901-1940: 7, part 4 (1915):730-732, fig. 465.
1905
Reinach, Salomon. Répertoire de peintures du moyen âge et de la Renaissance (1280-1580). 6 vols. Paris, 1905-1923: 1(1905):611.
1907
Cust, Lionel. "La collection de M. R. H. Benson (Londres)." Les Arts 70 (1907): 13, 14, repro.
Molmenti, Pompeo and Gustav Ludwig. The Life and Works of Vittore Carpaccio. London, 1907: 169, 170, repro.
1910
Beckerath, Adolf von. “Die Winter-Ausstellungen alter Bilder in London.” Rerpertorium für Kunstwissenschaft 33 (1910): 282.
1912
Borenius, Tancred. “La mostra di dipinti veneziani primitivi al Burlington Fine Arts Club.” Rassegna d’Arte 12, no. 6 (June 1912): 89, 90, repro.
Fry, Roger. "Exhibition of Pictures of the Early Venetian School at the Burlington Fine Arts Club." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 21 (1912): 96.
1914
Borenius, Tancred. Catalogue of Italian Pictures at 16 South Street, Park Lane, London and Buckhurst in Sussex Collected by Robert and Evelyn Benson. London, 1914: 151-152, no. 76, repro.
1923
Marle, Raimond van. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 19 vols. The Hague, 1923-1938: 18(1936):280-282, fig. 169.
1927
Freund, Frank E. Washburn. “Die Sammlung Benson.” Der Cicerone 19, no. 16 (1927): 502.
1931
Fiocco, Giuseppe. Carpaccio. Paris, 1931: 34-35, 74, pl. 119.
1933
Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. 3 vols. New York and Milan, 1933: 2:pl.410.
1941
Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: no. 93, repro., as A Saint Reading.
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 35-36, no. 447, pl. III, as A Lady Reading.
Richter, George Martin. "The New National Gallery in Washington." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 78 (June 1941): 178.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 248, repro. 82, as A Saint Reading.
1944
Frankfurter, Alfred M. The Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1944: 48, repro.
1945
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 89, repro., as A Saint Reading.
1952
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Great Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1952: 50, color repro., as A Saint Reading.
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Painters of the Renaissance. 3rd edition. Oxford, 1952: fig. 11.
1955
Pignatti, Terisio. Carpaccio. Milan, 1955: 110-111, pl. 3, fig. 88.
1957
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Venetian School. 2 vols. London, 1957: 1:59.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 151, repro., as A Saint Reading.
Seilern, Antoine Graf von. Italian Paintings and Drawings at 56 Princes Gate, London. 2 vols. London, 1959: 27-29.
1960
Perocco, Guido. Tutta la pittura del Carpaccio. Milan, 1960: 68, pl. 141.
1962
Lauts, Jan. Carpaccio. Paintings and Drawings. Complete Edition. Greenwich, CT, 1962: 253, pl. 143.
1963
Zampetti, Pietro, ed. Vittore Carpaccio. Catalogo della mostra. Exh. cat. Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1963: 204, fig. 12
Pignatti, Terisio. Vittore Carpaccio. Milan, 1963: 49.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 23.
1966
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:166, color repro.
Zampetti, Pietro. Vittore Carpaccio. Florence, 1966: 77, fig. 43.
Muraro, Michelangelo. Carpaccio. Florence, 1966: CLIV, CLV, repro.
1967
Perocco, Guido. L'opera completa del Carpaccio. Milan, 1967: 102.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 16, repro.
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 52, fig. 129.
Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 38-39, color repro.
1972
Pignatti, Terisio. Vittore Carpaccio. Milan, 1972: 19.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 56, repro.
1977
Muraro, Michelangelo. I disegni di Vittore Carpaccio. 2 vols. Florence, 1977: 22, 65, fig. 20a.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:116-117; 2:pl. 79.
Sgarbi, Vittorio. Carpaccio. Bologna, 1979: 38.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 203, no. 242, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 75, repro.
1989
Valcanover, Francesco. Carpaccio. Florence, 1989: 50-51, pl. 60.
1991
Humfrey, Peter. Carpaccio: catalogo completo dei dipinti. Florence, 1991: 101, repro.
Bradford, William, and Helen Braham. Master Drawings from the Courtauld Collection. Exh. cat. Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 1991: 48.
1994
Sgarbi, Vittorio. Carpaccio. Milan, 1994: 48-49, 217.
1995
Bettagno, Alessandro, and Giorgio Fossaluzza. “Interpretazioni del paesaggio nella pittura veneta.” In Alessandro Bettagno, ed. Natura e arte nel paesaggio veneto. Dalle interpretazioni pittoriche alle immagine fotografiche. Turin, 1995: 153, fig. 37.
2003
Boskovits, Miklós, and David Alan Brown, et al. Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2003: 188-193, color repro.
2013
Walmsley, Elizabeth. "Italian Renaissance Paintings Restored in Paris by Duveen Brothers, Inc., c. 1927-1929." Facture: conservation, science, art history 1 (2013): 58-77, fig. 12.
2017
Serres, Karen. "Duveen's Italian framemaker, Ferruccio Vannoni." The Burlington Magazine 159, no. 1370 (May 2017): 373 n. 41.
2022
National Gallery of Art. "The Director's Circle of the National Gallery of Art." Art for the Nation no. 66 (Fall 2022): 48, repro.
Wikidata ID
Q20175038