Bidspirit auction | Vittore Carpaccio’s Saint Ursula Story

Vittore Carpaccio’s Saint Ursula Story - Italy, Leonardo Arte, 1988. 210 pp., il., 28 by 23.8 cm Ex-Library book, but otherwise in very good condition with some wear to the dust jacket. Carpaccio painted this splendid cycle of nine paintings for the chapel of the Scuola di Sant’Orsola in the last decade of the Quattrocento. The painter drew inspiration for the program from the Golden Legend of Jacopo da Varagine, which recounts the life story of Ursula, a mythic princess, bride, pilgrim, and Christian martyr of the 4th century. Carpaccio chose to set the scenes from her life in an updated context that reflects both contemporary theatrical imagery and the continued threat posed by the Turks against Venice and Christian Europe. The commission may have been initiated by members of the noble Loredan family, who had been associated with the Scuola since the fourteenth century and were celebrated for their valor in the wars against the Turks. Like the other Venetian confraternities, the Scuola di Sant’Orsola was suppressed by Napoleonic decree in 1806; the paintings were removed on October 10th, 1808, and put on view in the Gallerie dell’Accademia in 1828. However, it wasn’t until 1895 that they were displayed as a unified cycle. Since that time, the style and the order in which they were displayed have been modified several times, most notably in the 1920s and again in 1947 according to the design of Carlo Scarpa, which is essentially the display design we see today. The cycle illustrates the story of Ursula, the daughter of a Christian king who was reluctantly promised in marriage to a pagan prince, and captivates viewers with its dramatic narration of the betrothal. The story culminates in the martyrdom of the doomed princess in Cologne at the hand of the Huns during her return from her pilgrimage to Rome. The paintings are realistic, eyewitness-style portrayals in which Carpaccio created an idealized world of faraway places that are nonetheless filled with details familiar to Venice— the typical altana roof decks, funnel-shaped chimneys, loggias, shipyards, and a recognizable cast of Venetian characters. Italian Edition. Rare to find.