Vittore Carpaccio

Possibly Count Trissino, Vicenza;
Possibly Leon Martinelli, Vicenza;
With M. Knoedler & Co., New York, by 1966;
With E.V. Thaw & Co. Inc.;
From whom acquired by Peter Jay Sharp;
His deceased sale, New York, Sotheby's, 13 January 1994, lot 65 (unsold).

J. Lauts, Carpaccio, Paintings and Drawings, London 1962, p. 238, under cat. no. 35 (as circa 1500);
M. Muraro, Carpaccio, Florence 1966, p. cxxxix, reproduced (as circa 1505-10);
P. Zampetti, Vittore Carpaccio, Venice 1966, p. 52;
M. Cancogni and G. Perocco, L'Opera completa del Carpaccio, Milan 1967, p. 102, under cat. no. 39, reproduced (as circa 1505);
J. Roudaut and G. Perocco, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Carpaccio, Paris 1981, p. 102, under cat. no. 39, reproduced (as circa 1505);
C. Gould and P. Zampetti, The Complete Paintings of Giorgione, New York 1968, p. 98, under cat. no. 54;
V. Sgarbi, Carpaccio, New York 1994 (English edition), pp. 216-217, cat. no. 26c, reproduced (as datable to circa 1505-7).

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work may not have been recently restored, but looks well nonetheless. If it were lightly cleaned and varnished, it could otherwise be hung as is. The paint layer seems to be in very good condition. There is a small crack in the upper right that has received some restoration. A very thin scratch immediately to the right of the figure's neck seems to have retouches. There does not seem to be much abrasion or other restoration, except possibly around the extreme edges.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This small enigmatic painting is by Vittore Carpaccio, one of the most important and rare artists of the Venetian Renaissance.  It is one of a set of three panels of the same size, one of them depicting a similar female allegorical figure in a landscape and the third depicting a young man standing in a landscape (fig.1).  The two panels with female figures were still together in a private collection in Venice before the Second World War, while the panel depicting a youth was formerly in the Abati and Suardo collections in Bergamo.¹  The panel with a youth has in the past been ascribed to Giorgione;² however Jan Lauts, in his 1962 catalogue of the works of Carpaccio (see Literature), first proposed that, in fact, all three panels were the work of that master.  A drawing of the figure of the youth by Carpaccio is in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.³ 

These panels are thought to have served as decoration for a piece of furniture or a chest.  Vittorio Sgarbi (see Literature) has proposed that together the panels relate the story of Hercules at the Crossroads, following the narrative as recounted by Prodicus of Ceos and Xenophon in his Memorabilia, II.  The youthful Hercules is shown in thoughtful meditation as he contemplates the figures of Virtue and Vice.  Virtue, depicted in the present painting, is shown with her attributes of a cornucopia filled with laurel (an allusion to fame and recognition) and her staff.⁴  Vice bears a cornucopia filled with roses (an allusion to fleeting pleasures) and is shown with what appears to be some kind of monster or diabolical creature peaking out from behind her back.  As Sgarbi points out, the two female figures are each positioned at the start of different paths and Hercules must decide which one to follow.  Ultimately he chooses Virtue.

 

 

1.  According to Antonio Morassi; see Sgarbi under Literature;
2.  See P. Zampetti, in Giorgione e i Giorgioneschi, exhibition catalogue, Venice 1955, p. 8, cat. no. 4.
3.  The figure of the youth is from a sheet titled, Study for a Female Figure and Young Page, pen, ink and watercolor on paper; see V. Sgarbi, under Literature, p. 217, reproduced (detail).
4.  In the Iconologia by Cesare Ripa (1593), Virtue is described as a woman with a staff in her right hand and a cornucopia filled with various fruits in her left (p. 590).