Restored in 2003 with funding from Olivia Albanell-Esteve.

This charming devotional painting was produced for the Servite monastery of San Giacomo alla Giudecca, located until 1837 beside the church of the Redentore. When it entered the Museo Correr in 1840, the painting was initially attributed to Carpaccio, yet it was removed from display in 1957 when the museum’s conservator, Giovanni Pedrocco, declared it a forgery. In 2003, the American Professor R. W. Rearick pressed for the painting to receive a full restoration financed by Save Venice.

The removal of layers of darkened varnish revealed a work of high pictorial quality that could be attributed with certainty to Carpaccio and his workshop, as further confirmed through infrared imaging and reflectography. A number of compositional changes beneath the finished pictorial surface bear notable similarities to an autograph version of the same subject in the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. They reveal that in an initial phase, the Christ Child wore slippers on his feet, the Virgin turned her face towards the viewer, and, to the left of the curtain, the view onto the landscape was framed by an open window—all elements that appear in the Frankfurt painting.

The close correlation between the two works demonstrates that the Correr painting must have been produced in Carpaccio’s workshop, although it employs a pictorial language that is to some extent closer to that of Giovanni Bellini. Further evidence in support of the attribution to Carpaccio is to be found in red chalk drawing retraced with pen and ink, now preserved at the Courtauld Gallery in London. The drawing provides a point of connection between the Frankfurt and Venice pictures and should be understood as a compositional tool used in the workshop to produce replicas or variations of existing works.

Carpaccio’s Madonna and Child is markedly intimate in character, and thus certainly conceived to encourage the emotional engagement of the viewer during prayer. In the foreground, the Christ Child has paused his reading, as he meditates pensively upon the content of the illuminated gospel that rests upon his legs. The Virgin, aware of the trials to which her son will be subjected, contributes to reinforcing the gesture of the young Saint John who, pointing to the Lamb of God, promises eternal salvation to the observer. This message is reiterated in the delicate embroidery on Jesus’ cap, which depicts a lion within a thicket, a potent symbol of both the wisdom of Christ and of his Resurrection. Derived from the imagery of medieval moralizing bestiaries, this emblematic insertion seems to confirm the monastic provenance of the work, for it is likely that it would have served as visual support to the prayers of a monk within the privacy of his cell.

Conservator Lucia Tito removed layers of darkened varnish, revealing the chromatic vibrance and delicate details of the work and allowing for it to be attributed to Carpaccio once again. Diagnostic imaging, including infrared reflectography, provided additional information in support of this: several compositional changes made during the process of creation indicate that the painting is not a copy, but an original work produced by Carpaccio and possibly with the help of assistants.

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)
Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist
c. early 1500s, oil on wood panel
67 x 52.5 cm

Museo Correr: Homepage

Museo Correr: Link to the Work

Fletcher, Jennifer. “Carpaccio at the Courtauld.” The British Art Journal, 2, 2 (2000/2001): 71-74.

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

Menato, Sara. Vittore Carpaccio. Studio della formazione del maestro e del Ciclo di Sant’Orsola. Catalogo dei disegni. Università degli studi di Padova, PhD dissertation, 2013-2014.

William R. Rearick. La dispersione dei dipinti già a Santa Maria dei Miracoli. In Mario Piana and Wolfgang Wolters, eds. Santa Maria dei Miracoli a Venezia. La storia, la fabbrica, i restauri. Venice: Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, 2003, pp. 179-192.