Carpaccio

Carpaccio, VITTORE, a painter of the early Venetian school, was born in Istria about 1450, and was early influenced by the Vivarini and Gentile Bellini. His rich colouring and accurate knowledge of perspective, his boundless invention and fancy, his powerful delineation of character, and his love of varied incident, are amply visible in the nine subjects from the life of St Ursula, which he painted, 1490-95, for the school of St Ursula, Venice, and which are now preserved in the Accademia there. About 1494 he executed another work now in the same collection, 'The Patriarch of Grado casting out a Devil.' His next great series of works was the nine subjects from the lives of the Saviour, and Saints Jerome, George, Tryphonius, 1502-8, painted for the school of San Giorgio de Schiavoni, and still preserved there. In 1510 he executed for San Giobbe the noble 'Presentation in the Temple,' now in the Accademia, which is usually regarded as his masterpiece. His later works show a marked decline in power. Among these may be mentioned an altar-piece in San Vitale, Venice, 1514, and a group of ladies with pet dogs and birds (most unduly praised by Mr Ruskin), in the Correr Museum. His latest dated works, at Pirano and Pozzale, are inscribed 1519; and he is believed to have died about 1522. The 'Virgin and Child adored by the Doge Mocenigo,' assigned to him, in the National Gallery, London, is a very doubtful work. See a French work by Molmenti (Venice, 1893); Crowe and Cavalcaselle, Painting in North Italy (1871); Ruskin and Anderson, St Mark's Rest (1877 and 1879); and Ruskin, Guide to Academy of Fine Arts, Venice (1882-83).