Conservation in 2006 with funding from the California Chapter of Save Venice Inc. in memory of Michaela Sara Stanfill.

In 1496 Carpaccio signed and dated this canvas depicting the Blood of the Redeemer. The work was not documented until 1773, however, when it was listed among the holdings of the sacristy of the Dominican church of San Pietro Martire in Udine, a town northeast of Venice in the Friuli region.

It has been suggested that the painting may have been commissioned by Father Benedetto de Colle Prampergo, a Dominican friar who in 1490 donated to the church of San Pietro Martire a precious relic of the Holy Thorn. Father Benedetto resided in the Venetian convent of Santi Giovanni Paolo in 1488, 1490, and 1494, when he served as Superior of the Dominican Order in the Veneto Province. It is possible that during one of his stays, Father Benedetto met with Carpaccio, who in those years was painting the Cycle of Saint Ursula in the Scuola di Sant’Orsola, a lay confraternity that once stood next to Santi Giovanni e Paolo.

At the center of the composition, silhouetted against a cloth of honor in red and gold brocade, the resurrected Christ stands tall, holding the True Cross from which hangs his Crown of Thorns. Around him, four angels hold additional Arma Christi (Instruments of the Passion): The Holy Sponge set on a reed, the Holy Lance, the nails, and the whips. Christ’s blood spouts forth from the wounds in his chest, hands, and feet, pouring into the golden chalice above which the Eucharistic host hovers. Carpaccio’s rendition of the subject may reflect Zechariah’s prophetic words (13: 1): “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them for sin and impurity.” The image certainly brings to mind the ritual of the Eucharist, during which the substance of bread and wine turns into Christ’s real presence—his body and blood.

At the time of Carpaccio, the subject of the work—the redeeming power of the blood of Christ—was controversial and indeed at the center of a theological dispute between the Dominicans and the Franciscans: the former preached its divine nature, while the latter claimed that it was Christ’s death, not his blood, that had saved the faithful. Given the theological complexity of the image, it has been argued that Carpaccio was instructed by a learned advisor, perhaps Father Benedetto de Colle Prampergo.

Following the Napoleonic suppression of the church in Udine, ownership of this painting was transferred to the state in 1810. In 1924 it was loaned to the Museo Civico in Udine, and was returned to the Accademia in 2006 for restoration and the special exhibition Vittore Carpaccio. Tre capolavori restaurati (2007). At present, the painting is deposited at the Galleria d’Arte Antica, Udine.

Conservation was completed by Egidio Arlango.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Vittore Carpaccio (c. 1465–c. 1526)
Blood of the Redeemer
1496, oil on canvas
163 x 162.8 cm
Galleria d’Arte Antica, Udine, Room III

Galleria d’Arte Antica, Udine: Homepage

Manieri Elia, Giulio, ed. Capolavori Restaurati. Le Gallerie dell’Accademia e Save Venice Inc. Venice: Marsilio, 2010.

Matino, Gabriele and Patricia Fortini Brown, eds. Carpaccio in Venice: A Guide. Venice: Marsilio, 2020.

Nepi Scirè, Giovanna and Sandra Rossi, eds. Vittore Carpaccio. Tre capolavori restaurati. Venice: Marsilio, 2007.