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Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice

Past Exhibition

November 20, 2022 – February 12, 2023
West Building, Main Floor, Galleries 10–17

A leading figure in the art of Renaissance Venice, Vittore Carpaccio (c. 1460/1466–1525/1526) is best known for his large, spectacular narrative paintings that brought sacred history to life. Although for centuries he has been loved and celebrated in his native city for his observant eye, fertile imagination, and storytelling prowess, this exhibition marks the first retrospective of the artist ever held outside Italy.

In a focused selection of some 45 paintings and 30 drawings, large-scale canvases painted for charitable societies are seen alongside smaller works that originally decorated the homes of prosperous Venetians. Some of the paintings, notably two celebrated canvases from the Scuola degli Schiavoni in Venice, and the National Gallery’s own Virgin Reading (c. 1505), have undergone conservation for the occasion. The drawings, characterized by a marvelous freshness of invention, include sketches for complete compositions as well as meticulously observed studies for individual figures. 

Explore Selected Works

Shown from the hips up against a landscape, a woman with pale skin, wearing a burgundy-red dress with marigold-orange sleeves and a sheer veil, sits facing our left in profile as she reads a small book in this vertical painting. She has a straight nose and peach-colored lips. Her blond hair is covered by a bone-white headdress tied over her forehead. The veil drapes over the headdress, and her head is encircled with a faint gold ring, creating a halo. Her dress has full sleeves and is cinched into pleats at the high waist. The neckline is edged with a band of nickel gray decorated with a pattern of circles and leafy forms. The book has a red cover with a red ribbon, and she holds one index finger between the pages. A low chalk-white stone wall beyond the woman suggests she sits on a porch or balcony. A swath of powder-blue fabric drapes over the ledge on which she sits near one knee. To our left, a sliver of a shoulder, elbow, and toes of one foot suggest a person with pale skin draped in midnight blue, leaning back against a maroon-red pillow with tassels at the corners, in front of the woman and to our left. Behind that second person, in the landscape beyond the balcony, barren branches of a tree twist against the sky while a second tree, to our right, has a leafy, green canopy. A mustard-yellow meadow lined with bushes leads to the water’s edge, where ice-blue water leads back to rolling hills along the horizon. A few white buildings and a tower are clustered on the opposite shore. White and gray clouds float against the pale blue sky.
Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice

Vittore Carpaccio, The Virgin Reading, c. 1505, oil on panel transferred to canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.354
Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice

Vittore Carpaccio, Ordination of Saint Stephen, 1511, oil on canvas, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldergalerie, n. 23

Image © bpk Bildagentur / Gemaldegalerie / Joerg P. Anders / Art Resource, NY
Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice

Vittore Carpaccio, Saint Augustine in His Study, shortly after 1502, oil and tempera on canvas, Scuola Dalmata dei Santi Giorgio e Trifone, Venice

Photo credit: Matteo De Fina
Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice

Vittore Carpaccio, The Flight into Egypt, 1516/1518, oil on panel, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.28
Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice

Vittore Carpaccio, Two Women on a Balcony, c. 1492/1494, oil on panel, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Museo Correr, Cl. I n. 0046
Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice

Vittore Carpaccio, Fishing and Fowling on the Lagoon, c. 1492/1494, oil on panel, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 79.PB.72
Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice

Vittore Carpaccio, A Young Knight, 1510, oil on canvas, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice

Vittore Carpaccio, Doge Leonardo Loredan, c. 1501/1504, oil on panel, Fondazione Musei Civici de Venezia, Museo Correr, Cl. I no. 43
Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice

Vittore Carpaccio, The Lion of Saint Mark, 1516, oil on canvas, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Palazzo Ducale
Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice

Vittore Carpaccio, Meditation on the Passion of Christ, c. 1494–1496, oil on panel, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 11.118
Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice

Vittore Carpaccio, Saint George and the Dragon and Four Scenes from the Martyrdom of Saint George, 1516, oil on canvas, Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore, Benedicti Claustra Onlus, Venice

Photo by Matteo De Fina, image © Courtesy of Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore - Benedicti Claustra Onlus
Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice

Vittore Carpaccio, Birth of the Virgin, c. 1502/1503, oil on canvas, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice

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, The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London. Bridgeman Images
Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice

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, Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Elisa Whittelsey Collection, The Elisa Whittelsey Fund, 1954

Explore & Share

In-Person Talks

December 16 – January 22

Exhibition Overviews

Enjoy an introduction to the key works in this exhibition. We will also examine how the artist’s large narrative paintings brought sacred history to life. No registration is required.

December 11 – February 5

Carpaccio in Context

Don't miss a series of in-depth lectures exploring Venetian art. No registration is required.

Virtual Talks

January 4 - February 8

Virtual Lectures

These events take place over Zoom and are recorded. A link to the recording will be emailed to all registered participants afterwards. Live captions (CART) will be provided. Registration is required.

Vittore Carpaccio

Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice
A beloved artist in Venice, Carpaccio and his spectacular paintings and drawings are little known beyond Italy—until now. 

Now available

Organization
The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia.

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, director, Museo Correr, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, and Gretchen Hirschauer, curator of Italian and Spanish painting at the National Gallery of Art.

Other venues
Palazzo Ducale, Venice, March 18–June 18, 2023

Sponsors
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, and the Embassy of Italy, and the Italian Cultural Institute in Washington, DC.

The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Passes
Admission is always free and passes are not required

Banner detail: Vittore Carpaccio, Virgin Reading, c. 1505, oil on panel transferred to canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.354