VITTORE CARPACCIO

(Venice, ca. 1465-70 – 1525/26)

Christ as Salvator Mundi

Oil on panel

14 ¾ x 12 ½ inches
(28.5 x 24 cm)

Provenance:   

Private Collection, Venice

Sold, with a Certificate of Free Circulation from the Italian State, Florence, Pandolfini, October 15, 2013, lot 10, as Workshop of Vittore Carpaccio

Literature:

Johannes Gebhart and Frank Zöllner, “Paragone: Leonardo in Comparison,” in Paragone: Leonardo in Comparison, ed. Johannes Gebhardt and Frank Zöllner, Petersberg, 2021, p. 14, fig. 3.

Frank Zöllner, “Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, its Pictorial Tradition and its Context as a Devotional Image,” Artibus et Hitstoriae, no. 83 (2021), pp. 64-65, fig. 13.

This precious panel is a notable addition to the work of Vittore Carpaccio, representing a hitherto unknown treatment of the theme of Christ as Salvator Mundi, which Carpaccio treated several times in his career. By its intimate scale our painting was clearly intended for private devotional purposes. As a work in near perfect condition, it is a remarkable survivor from the Venetian Renaissance. While Carpaccio is justly celebrated for his large narrative canvases, traditional religious commissions occupied a large part of his career. In the present work, the artist has conceived of Christ following the Byzantine tradition of showing him frontally with one hand blessing and the other holding an orb representing the world. But rather than placing him against a flat gold-ground background, Carpaccio paints a brilliant cloud-filled sky to frame Christ. Together with his sensitive and sympathetic treatment of the facial features, this Christ is accessible to the viewer—a figure seen in heaven, but a heaven that one can see and experience every day.

Carpaccio’s authorship has been confirmed by Dr. Peter Humfrey and Dr. Mauro Lucco, who has authored a catalogue entry on the painting (available upon request), in which he dates the panel to 1507–1508. Dr. Humfrey, who has examined the painting firsthand, concurs with that dating.

The painting will be included in the forthcoming exhibition “Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice,” to be held at the National Gallery of Art, Washington (20 November 2022 – 12 February 2023) and the Palazzo Ducale, Venice (18 March – 18 June 2023).