The Dream of St. Ursula

The Dream of Ursula was created by Vittore Carpaccio in 1495 and is currently placed in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, Italy.  This painting is the fifth canvas out of the nine large paintings in the series "Stories from the Life of St Ursula". Vittore Carpaccio was born in circa 1460 in Venice, Italy and is known as the greatest early Renaissance narrative painter of the Venetian school. The genre scene of the Dream of St. Ursula has been especially praised for its wealth of naturalistic detail [1].

According to the ninth‐century legend, St. Ursula left Britain, where her father was king, to avoid a dynastic marriage to a pagan [2].The context of this image is that Vittore Carpaccio reveals St. Ursula, sleeping in her bed on the left side of the bedroom, encountering a dream by an angel on the right side of the bedroom. Ursula’s eyes are closed and her head is leaning on her right hand, which is by her cheek. The angel, Gabriel, is wearing a blue and black outfit with a bow and arrow in his hands. Gabriel tells her about an imminent martyrdom. There is a heavenly glow behind the angel bringing intense light around the bed frame and into the room next door, but the light is not completely illuminating the room. The patron of this picture is indeed the angel informing St. Ursula of an imminent martyrdom. The room is decorated very well, with various plants on display as well as statues of Hercules and other figures [2]. The walls are green on the bottom and there is a connector that goes all across the walls, separating the lower green walls  from the upper cream walls. My walls were like this when I was younger, so I’m happy to see that this design has come a long way.

[1] “Vittore Carpaccio.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 2019. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vittore-Carpaccio. 

[2] Meyers, Jeffrey. "Carpaccio and D'Annunzio's Il Fuoco." Style 47, no. 2 (2013)

[3] Sherman, Deena. “Carpaccio's Dream of St. Ursula.” Sleep and Health Journal Chicago, January 2, 2007. https://www.sleepandhealth.com/carpaccios-dream-st-ursula/. 

Vittore Carpaccio

Krén, Emil, and Daniel Marx. “The Dream of St Ursula.” The Dream of St Ursula by CARPACCIO, Vittore, 1996. https://www.wga.hu/html_m/c/carpacci/1ursula/2/50dream.html.

Krén, Emil, and Daniel Marx. The Stories from the Life of St Ursula (1490-96), 1996. https://www.wga.hu/html_m/c/carpacci/1ursula/index.html.

Meyers, Jeffrey. "Carpaccio and D'Annunzio's Il Fuoco." Style 47, no. 2 (2013): 185-92.

Popham, A. E. "Drawing by Vittore Carpaccio." The British Museum Quarterly 9, no. 3 (1935): 83-84.

Rodini, Elizabeth. "The Politics of Marriage in Carpaccio's St. Ursula Cycle." Early Modern Women 8 (2013): 85-117.

Sherman, Deena. “Carpaccio's Dream of St. Ursula.” Sleep and Health Journal Chicago, 2007. https://www.sleepandhealth.com/carpaccios-dream-st-ursula/. 

Vittore Carpaccio. 1495. Scenes from the Life of Saint Ursula. Saint Ursula's Dream. painting. Place: Gallerie dell'Accademia di Venezia. https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/SCALA_ARCHIVES_1039488911;prevRouteTS=1599341543425

“Vittore Carpaccio.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 2019. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vittore-Carpaccio. 

1495

Seamus Harding

(c) 2006, SCALA, Florence/ART RESOURCE, N.Y. Carpaccio, Vittore, 1455?-1525?. c.1495.

Image Rights: Legend of St. Ursula: Dream of St. Ursula. https://library.artstor.org/asset/ARTSTOR_103_41822000556629.

Oil on Canvas; 274 x 267 cm

Painting

Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, Italy