Although often compared to his mentor Gentile Bellini, Vittore Carpaccio's command of perspective, precise attention to architectural detail, themes of death, and use of bold color differentiated him from other Italian Renaissance artists.

[1] Many of his works display the religious themes and cross-cultural elements of art at the time; his portrayal of Saint Augustine in His Study from 1502, reflects the popularity of collecting "exotic" and highly desired objects from different cultures.

By about 1510 Carpaccio's style was perceived by contemporaries as too conservative, showing little influence from the Humanist trends that transformed Italian Renaissance painting during his lifetime.

[4][footnotes 1] Although Carpaccio's precise date of birth remains unknown, various documents have offered clues in order to narrow it down to a particular span of years.

[1] However, a closer examination of Venetian law by scholars led to the discovery that children could be regarded as future heirs, thus Carpaccio's birth year range was raised to c. 1460 to 1465.

Another document revealed that Carpaccio continued to live with his father through 1486, signifying late adolescence by this time and confirming this later range of birth years.

[1] Peter Humfrey presents the various bits of evidence that scholars have used in order to determine Carpaccio's birth years, as well as the dates of his earliest works, and in turn in which workshop he trained in Venice.

[4] Carpaccio (or Scarpaza, Scarpazza or Scarpanza or Scarpanzo, as the name was variously recorded in the Venetian dialect) came from a family originally from Mazzorbo, an island in the diocese of Torcello.

[4]: 3−4 Early twentieth-century scholars Molmento and Ludwig[8] argued that Carpaccio's first teacher Lazzaro Bastiani, who, like the Bellini brothers and Vivarini, was the head of a large atelier in Venice.

This series elevated his prominence in early Renaissance Venice, allowing him to distinguish himself as a capable, creative painter skilled in artistic narration and lighting.

[2] On the left wall of the painting, sculptures, Etruscan vases, and a Mamluk metalwork candlestick are displayed on a shelf, referencing objects that were highly sought after during that time and valued in Renaissance art collecting.

[1] In 1508, he joined a committee established to assess the frescoes painted by Giorgione, which had been commissioned by the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, a trading post for German merchants.

[6] In 1510, Carpaccio executed the panels of Lamentation on the Dead Christ and The Meditation on the Passion, where the sense of sorrow found in such works by Mantegna is backed by extensive use of symbolism.

[16] Nonetheless, he designed various altarpieces for Venetian churches, including St. Thomas Aquinas Enthroned (1507), Presentation of Christ in the Temple (1510), and Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand (1515), while he also continued to paint for a more modest community of provincial patrons.

Fortini Brown argues that this increased interest in exotic eastern subject matter was a result of worsening relations between Venice and the Ottoman Turks: "as it became more of a threat, it also became more of an obsession.

[18] This cycle has led scholars to describe him as a "master visual storyteller," since the large-scale paintings were installed in large open spaces, like a reception or audience hall, allowing spectators to take in the scenes, similar to animation storyboards.

[8] By 1495, in the Departure of St. Ursula, the largest canvas of the series, his treatment of color, geometric perspective, and figural composition would reflect his careful study and mastery over Venetian narrative art form.

[6] The piece illustrates a town teeming with people, while simultaneously flaunting splendor by including marbles, expensive fabrics, and architecture inspired by the eastern Mediterranean.

[1] In the opening decade of the sixteenth century, Carpaccio embarked on works that scholars have argued made him one of the foremost orientalist painters of his age.

Unlike the use of a continuous narrative sequence found in the St. Ursula series, wherein the main characters appear multiple times within each canvas, each work in the Schiavoni cycle concentrates on a single episode in the lives of Dalmatia's three patron saints: St. Jerome, St. George and St. Trifon.

[4] These works are thought of as "orientalist" because they offer evidence of a fascination with the Levant: a distinctly Middle Eastern-looking landscape takes an increasing role in the images as the backdrop to the religious scenes.

In 1491, Carpaccio completed the Glory of St. Ursula altarpiece, a large scale detachable wall-painting painted for the hall of one of the Venetian scuole, which were charitable and social confraternities.

Other altarpieces that Carpaccio created, like St. Thomas Aquinas Enthroned (1507), Presentation of Christ in the Temple (1510), and Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand (1515), were commissioned by Venice churches.

[3] Carpaccio transformed from being a member of a small furrier merchant family to being a prominent artist in Italy, with some scholars comparing his stature to Gentile Bellini.

[22] Unlike Bellini, Carpaccio worked mostly in what has been described as a more conservative-style of painting, a contrast to the growing humanist tendencies that were a prominent influence on other painters in Italy during his lifetime.

[1] While regular employment was scarce, he primarily served a variety of working-class patrons that consisted of sailors, artisans, and tradesmen belonging to the scuole of the Albanesi and Schiavoni.

[12] Interest in Carpaccio resurged in the nineteenth century as English writer and art critic John Ruskin celebrated the Venetian painter's attention to detail.

[4][28] The exhibition brought together forty-five paintings and thirty drawings made by Carpaccio, including the NGA's Virgin Reading (c. 1505), which had recently undergone conservation work.