Around 1500, early Renaissance Venetian painting experienced a strong boost. Vittore Carpaccio managed to connect teh Christian legend with the people. Even today, Venice is unimaginable without its makeup.
The “Early Renaissance in Venice”, which is the title of this exhibition at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, names the correct epochal term, which tells of the revival of the ancient formal language, the liberation and the desire to experiment around 1500. With a little ‘ of anti-scientific pathos we could easily speak of a revival: after the wooden style of the Venetian masters around 1450, a leap in quality occurred in pictorial art around Giovanni Bellini, comparable but wholly different to the Florentine one simultaneously occurring.
The oil colors now shone under the brush of Maestro Bellini and his followers; the soft focus of Nuanced he created scented booklets as if in the humid air of the lagoon. And both the saints and the founders were given a transparent halo of light and color. The protagonist of the Stuttgart exhibition, the painter Vittore Carpaccio, was biographically and artistically on the same train with which Giorgione and Titian would create otherworldly and mysterious paintings a few years later. except it came out first.
Carpaccio, born before 1470 as the son of an Albanian fur trader, painted noticeably differently than his colleagues throughout his life. Solidly trained, probably in the large workshop of Gentile Bellini, this newcomer immersed himself in a somewhat marginalized aspect in the silent and sacred conversations of the other Venetians: Carpaccio tackled countless details with verve: small objects of everyday use, scenes of streets and canals, traditional costumes and furniture and, last but not least, pets, such as the pampered dogs and cats that lived with their owners in Venice and yawned on the water of the lagoon.
A confident trickster
the attraction makes an impressive impression in the first cycle of Ursula, painted for a pious Venetian guild and now one of the main works of the Gallerie dell’Accademia on the Grand Canal. It is indeed difficult to get enough of the poses of the richly dressed and exquisitely hooded patricians who populate this cycle of saints as if in some sort of ancient spectacle. However, the client and painter quickly moved the scene of the martyrdom of the Virgin Ursula between Great Britain and Cologne to his front door, with bridges and canals, gondolas and palaces. What a confident trickster!
In Stuttgart, this non-transportable magnum opus can be seen in slightly scaled-down photographic reproductions, just as the enormous canvases originally hung in Venice. With all the figures, views and facades, it seems grand how this young painter relies on the effect of being overwhelmed by reality. but at the latest when faced with the other exclusively high-ranking original works present in this exhibition (borrowed from Washington, Venice, Amsterdam, Berlin, Naples, among others), the concept of realism turns out to be premature.
The Russian art historian Mikhail Bakhtin many years ago declared the symbiosis between the otherworldly fairy tale and the earthly ostentation of Carpaccio to be the key to all great Renaissance art: it lives like a puzzle halfway between heaven and earth, vision and domestic effects, dream and reality. . Is this perhaps the testimony of the divine miracle on which the surprisingly large number of Madonnas and patricians present in the paintings of those years reflect, with a book in hand? and while not onyl priests and merchants, but also women explored the world with literacy, fantastically dressed delegations from the Ottoman Empire, Persia, the Balkans and Germany - painted by Carpaccio and associates – transported far into the lagoon.
Carpaccio captivatingly manages this balancing act between closeness and breadth in his Birth of the Virgin Mary of Bergamo, in which the holy Mother of God begins her earthly existence in a Venetian birthing room with diapers and porridge, a bathtub and a fireplace. carpaccio pays less attention to the psychology of his mother Anna or his unpredictable and grumpy grandfather Gioacchino than to the brocade curtains, a psalm tablet correctly engraved in Hebrew and an oriental carpet and, as if in jest, populates the corridor with two fertility rabbits who calmly gnaw the vegetables. This beautiful vision is made even more convincing by the solidly drawn and only lightly colored scenery.
Of course the carpaccio could also be different. He mastered the maternal image of the madonna in the spirit of Bellini, although he seems to have appreciated the pale and sweet ideal portrait less than the ostentatious hidden object images that became his trademark. That this conservative master,who was never short of commissions,also knew how to be innovative is demonstrated by his monumental Martyrdom of St. Stephen in Stuttgart.
Of course, here too he does not follow the path of Bellini and Giorgione towards the submission of saturated, shimmering colors and a elegant direction of light, but remains faithful to his time as a realist with the Turkish costumes and turbans of the pagan torturers. But instead of the still poses of other images of saints, the canvas here literally vibrates. The gestures of stoning are recorded as a cinematic sequence, from picking up the pieces to reaching and aiming to throwing and inside the flying projectiles. Experiencing the lively Venice Stock Exchange did not mean a meditative vision of the afterlife, but rather a lot of dynamism.
This painter’s eyes were hypersensitive and overflowing with perception of even the smallest things. In collaboration with more than respectable, if lesser-known, Venetian contemporaries such as Vincenzo Catena, Fra Marco Pensaben, Jacopo Palma and Giovanni Mansueti, this wonderful exhibition shows that the creativity of Venetian painters around 1500 was nothing short of a miracle.
However, his successors did not follow Carpaccio’s special path to visual supersaturation. While Gentile Bellini, commissioned by the Doge, portrayed the sharp profile of the Turkish sultan Mehmet mercilessly inspired by nature, his brother Giovanni was already creating something timeless: a rarely shown crucifixion (coming from an Italian bank) depicts the Savior as a plant from the dead earth full of skulls and bones and Jewish gravestones bloom towards the sky.
In front of an ideal city on the mainland, the rising sun lies like a merciful blanket on the body of the crucified man. This masterpiece, although overflowing with sensuality, traces the path along which, after Carpaccio, Venetian painters would take the next
step towards immortality: deciding to paint light itself.
“Carpaccio, Bellini and the early Renaissance in Venice”until 2 March 2025, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
What are some key characteristics of early Renaissance Venetian painting?
Interview Between The Time.news editor and Art Historian Dr. Elena Rosetti
Editor: Welcome, Dr. Rosetti. It’s a pleasure to have you with us today to discuss the interesting early Renaissance period in Venice, particularly in light of the current exhibition at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. To kick things off, coudl you clarify why the early Renaissance around 1500 was such a pivotal time for Venetian painting?
Dr. Rosetti: thank you for having me! The early Renaissance in venice marked a meaningful change in artistic expression. Around this time, artists like Giovanni Bellini and Vittore Carpaccio began to move away from the more rigid wooden styles that preceded them. They introduced a revival of ancient formal languages while also experimenting with oil paint, which offered a depth and luminosity previously unseen. This was a period defined by exploration, not only in technique but in how art interacted with the viewer and the surrounding surroundings.
Editor: Interesting! You mentioned Vittore Carpaccio.What about his work sets him apart from his contemporaries?
Dr. rosetti: Carpaccio is often seen as a bridge between customary religious themes and the vibrant daily life of Venice. His attention to detail–from the vivid costumes to small objects in his scenes–captures the essence of Venetian culture. Rather than focusing solely on spiritual or allegorical representations, Carpaccio infuses his paintings with elements of everyday life, giving viewers a glimpse into the world around them. his ability to connect Christian legend with daily experiences invites viewers to engage with the divine in a more intimate, relatable way.
Editor: That’s fascinating! In terms of his narrative style, how did Carpaccio manage to blend the sacred with the secular?
Dr. Rosetti: You’re touching on one of the most captivating aspects of Carpaccio’s work! He had a unique knack for bringing biblical tales into familiar Venice settings. For example, in his cycle for the Virgin Ursula, he cleverly interwove local landscapes—gondolas, canals, and Venetian architecture—into a story set far away, kind of like a confident trickster who transplanted the narrative right to his doorstep. This blend of the earthly and the otherworldly, as noted by the Russian art historian Mikhail Bakhtin, creates a profound dialog between the divine and daily life.
Editor: The current exhibition in Stuttgart features photographic reproductions of Carpaccio’s masterpieces. How do you think these reproductions affect the viewer’s experience compared to experiencing the paintings in person?
Dr. Rosetti: That’s a great question! While photographic reproductions can convey the overall composition and color palette, they can’t fully replicate the texture and presence of the original works. Carpaccio’s paintings engage the viewer on multiple sensory levels—the brushstrokes, the oil’s luminosity, the scale of the pieces—all contribute to the experience. Being in front of the original artwork allows for a connection that a photograph can’t provide. Though, exhibitions like Stuttgart’s play a crucial role in making these masterpieces accessible to a wider audience, which is invaluable for art education and recognition.
editor: It seems like Carpaccio’s ability to depict the human experience alongside divine narratives makes his work resonate even today. What do you think he would want modern viewers to understand about his art?
dr. Rosetti: I believe Carpaccio would want viewers to recognize that the sacred and the mundane coexist. His work invites viewers to find the unusual in the ordinary—to see the miraculous in their everyday lives. By portraying saints and common people alike in familiar settings, he prompts us to reflect on how spirituality is interwoven with daily human experiences. His art challenges us to consider our surroundings through a lens of wonder and reverence.
Editor: Beautifully said,Dr. Rosetti. Thank you so much for your insights today. It’s clear that Carpaccio’s legacy not only shapes our understanding of venetian art but also enriches our connection to history and culture.
Dr. Rosetti: Thank you! it’s been delightful to discuss such an influential figure in art history. I hope more people will explore Carpaccio’s work and find their own meanings within it.