Study of the Virgin (recto); Study of the Virgin and of Hands (verso)

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Study of the Virgin (recto); Study of the Virgin and of Hands (verso)

Creator

Vittore Carpaccio

Italian Artist · 1–1465

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Vittore Carpaccio always managed to depict Venice in his painting. Britain and Brittany were transformed into the canal city in one of his most famous cycles, *The Legend of Saint Ursula,* commissioned by Venice's Scuola of Saint Ursula, a fraternity of merchants and craftsmen, for their meeting hall adjacent to a Dominican church. When he completed the cycle in 1498, Venetians delighted in the pa

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Date
about 1505
Medium
Brush with brown wash over black chalk, heightened with white opaque watercolor (recto); brush and brown ink over black chalk, heightened with white opaque watercolor (verso), on blue paper (now discolored)
Culture
Italian
Department
Drawings
Institution
Getty Museum

In this simple study of the Virgin Mary kneeling in prayer, Vittore Carpaccio concentrated on the simple lines of her headdress and the crisp folds of her robe. With a brush and a painterly approach, he applied a rich brown wash to her form, with dark lines outlining the body and parallel hatching to give texture. Carpaccio then added strokes of white bodycolor to create brilliant effects of light hitting the surface of the fabric. He produced the drawing as a preparatory study for a painting. The verso contains a variety of sketches that Carpaccio probably produced ten to fifteen years later. In the main image, the Virgin gazes down in prayer, with her disembodied clasped hands placed directly below her. Another study of a hand holding a quill pen projects from the lower left edge.

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