The paintings were commissioned by the Loredan family, who had the Scuola of St. Ursula under their patronage and who had been distinguished for their military deeds against the "infidel" Ottomans, which are repeatedly echoed in the panels of the cycle.

Outside the proscenium is a man wearing a red toga, a hint at the didascalos, a narrator figure of the Renaissance theatre who described or commented on the play to the audience, usually in the person of an angel.

Among the spectators are characters wearing the crest of the Compagnia della Calza, a Venetian confraternity which organized events and spectacles during Carnival and other religious celebrations.

The third painting portrays the ambassadors of Brittany received in an open pavilion, with an imaginary city in the background, also resembling contemporary Venetian architecture.

Here too the ceremonial is reminiscent of the Venetian ones, and the didascalos is also present next to the Pope, in a red toga and with the appearance of the Renaissance humanist Ermolao Barbaro.

The banners over the tower, red-white with three golden crowns, are those of the Ottoman sultan Mehmet II, the main Venetian enemy during Carpaccio's life.

A column in the middle of the painting, bearing the Loredan family's coat of arms, divides it into two scenes: on the left is the martyrdom of St. Ursula and her following of 11,000 virgins; on the right, her funeral.

As in the previous painting, Mehmet II and his troops are depicted as Huns, with the exception of a Moorish soldier in the middle of the left scene.

First preliminary research and diagnostic analysis was undertaken by the Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione e il Restauro and the Laboratorio Scientifico delle Gallerie.

A pilot restoration on The Arrival of the Pilgrims in Cologne began in 2013, followed by the closing of the Saint Ursula room in the Accademia in August of 2016 to continue work on the rest of the paintings.