Last weekend to steak out a Renaissance artist at the National Galley of Art

     

"Come in to my abode, my pretty, and see what jewels I have to show you." One of Vittore Carpaccio's dragons, considered to be the devil.

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

The first retrospective exhibition ever held outside Italy of a Renaissance artist's paintings and drawings will close Sunday at the National Gallery of Art.

Because few museums in the U.S. can boast of having any of his works, the name of Vittore Carpaccio (c.1460/1466–1525/1526) is unfamiliar to most Americans who more likely recognize his surname, chosen by a Venetian restauranter in 1963 for a special dish he cooked up for an ill countess.

Based on the artist's unique reds, the cook anointed  his special dish of raw meats, "steak carpaccio."

Vittore Carpaccio, Portrait of a Woman Holding a Book, c. 1500-1505, Denver Art Museum Collection, gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation

The National Gallery show has mounted a glorious show of 45 paintings and 30 drawings by Carpaccio, a native Venetian, who made them for societies, churches, and wealthy families.

He painted large, colorful religious scenes from Bible chapters, and for individual patrons, his works were mostly secular, all in the era's style of flat faces, mostly lacking expressions (except when it comes to bored women).

For the wealthy, Carpaccio's figures are, naturally, dressed in the finest fashions of the day.

Carpaccio made several portraits which included women with books, which is commendable that patrons wanted him to paint subjects in intellectual pursuits, however, most women then didn't read to gain knowledge per se but to learn how to teach their children how to read. 

Wealthy families hired tutors to educate their daughters.  

Carpaccio's characters occasionally hint at a smile as in Portrait of a Woman Holding a Book, above, compared to Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, whose mouth is more flirtacious than Carpaccio's Portrait. I suppose one must strain to catch a glimmer of a smile in Carpaccio's Woman, but my imagination permits me to see one because I want to see one. Rather like hearing what you want to hear other than what is really said. 

Since the two Italian artists lived about the same time [da Vinci, 1452-1519], might they have been trained in the same school?

Vittore Carpaccio, Two Women on a Balcony, c. 1492/1494, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Museo Correr,  Venice.This work has been reunited with its partner, Fishing and Fowling on the Lagoon, c. 1492/1494, from the J. Paul Getty Museum. Both were painted on the same wooden panel and believed to have been part of a folding door at a Venetian palace.  In the 1700s, the works were split in two but reunited to introduce the exhibition. The forlorn, sculpted women wait patiently on their husbands who are out fishing. (More than 500 years later, things remain the same.) 

Vittore Carpaccio, A Young Knight, 1510, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. This is a large painting, filled with symbols. Pick them out before you check the link

Another large painting is Carpaccio's The Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand Christians on Mount Ararat, 1515, loaned by the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice. It is based on the lives of the saints and 10,000 Christian converts killed by Romans and Muslims with whose empires Venice was engaged in conflict. Vasari mentions The Martyrdom in his 16th century Lives of the Most Famous Painters, Sculptors, and Architects.

Vittore Carpaccio,The Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand Christians on Mount Ararat, (detail) 1515, loaned by the Gallerie dell'Academia, Venice

Vittore Carpaccio, Allegorical Figure, (detail) c. 1498, private collection. She's probably "Virtue"; read below.

Vittore Carpaccio, Youth in a Landscape, (detail) c. 1498, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo. He is probably Hercules who weighs whether to follow "Virtue" (the woman above) or "Vice," pictured on another panel which is missing, and, of course, a woman. For all good Venetian fellows, Hercules chose "Virtue," laying the groundwork for them to follow.  A flowing landscape also connects these works, probably part of a chest. Giorgione was thought, originally, to have been the artist, according to the catalog. Until the 1930s, they were in a private Venetian collection, but the two female panels entered the New York art market in 1939 where "Vice" was swallowed up by...? And since absent from the public.  

Wherefore are thou, "Vice"?  To show up on "Antiques Roadshow"? Check your attic.  "Vice" looks like a twin of "Virtue" (disguised, per usual), looking in the opposite direction towards Hercules, according to an illustration found in the catalog.  "Virtue" and "Vice" originally appeared on either side of our hero, much like you see the morning "tee-hee" talk show hosts positioned on CNN and Fox.  Without a doubt, those producers studied Carpaccio to design their sets.

At the exhibition's exit,  one of Carpaccio's dragons bids "arrivederci" to departing guests. 

On the exhibition website, NGA’s John Strand writes Carpaccio drew his dragons smaller than imagination, likely because they could be more easily "defeated." Dragons were a symbol of the devil and Carpaccio makes them into scary creatures with the  teeth of daggers. 

Carpaccio is a favorite son of Venice which, at the turn of the 16th century, was a thriving marketplace, equivalent to New York City today and what was Hong Kong. The city looks forward to the artist's return March 18 to the Pacazzo Ducale, where his works will be on view through June 18, 2023.

A large catalog with 300 illustrations, many in color, has over 340 pages and is available in the shops, or it was. Since I now cannot find it, perhaps it's sold out and once seen, readers will understand why!

I nominate Susan Marsh and her team of book designers for the Academy Award in Book Covers for their magnificent choices of Carpaccio's, Two Women on a Balcony, c. 1492/1494, who grace the cover and look longingly towards the book's spine where, on the back cover, Carpaccio's men enjoy a sporting good time fishing and boating in Fishing and Fowling on the Lagoon, c. 1492/1494.

If you can't find the catalog, the National Gallery has plenty of other Carpaccio items for you to consider, ranging from prints, magnets, china, cards, and (the symbol of Venice) the Lion of St. Mark Corset Cuff Bracelet, made especially for NGA ($370, choice of red or blue with gold).

Valentines, anyone?

Peter Humfrey of the University of St. Andrews was the curator, in collaboration with Andrea Bellieni from the Museo Civici di Venezia and NGA's Gretchen Hirschauer.

What: Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice

When: Through February 12, 2023. The National Gallery hours are 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily.

Where: West Building, Main Floor National Gallery of Art, 6th and Constitution, Washington

How much: Admission is always free at the National Gallery of Art.

Metro stations for the National Gallery of Art:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: (202) 737-4215

Accessibility information: (202) 842-6905

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