Vittore Carpaccio
Vittore Carpaccio was an Italian painter of the Venetian school who studied under Gentile Bellini. His style was somewhat conservative, showing little influence from the Humanist trends that transformed Italian Renaissance painting during his lifetime. He was influenced by the style of Antonello da Messina and Early Netherlandish art. For this reason, and also because so much of his best work remains in Venice, his art has been rather neglected by comparison with other Venetian contemporaries, such as Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, or Titian, which is a huge shame!
The panel has been ascribed to Carpaccio and linked to the famous Two Venetian Women in the Museo Correr in Venice. The attribution, contested on various occasions, is now prevalently accepted as forming part of Carpaccio’s oeuvre, though serious doubts remain. The woman, often viewed as a courtesan, is wearing a triple silver chain necklace and a pearl necklace, symbolizing chastity, and, in the light of the Venetian sumptuary laws, they are an index of wealth and nobility too, besides denoting a woman approaching marriage or recently wed.
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P.S. Carpaccio was not the only artist overshadowed by superstars such as Titian. Do you know any women artists of the Venetian school?