Saint Martin and the Beggar
Vittore Carpaccio
1493–1500 · Pen and gray ink, brush and gray wash, over faint traces of black chalk · Drawings and Prints
This small study appears to have been preparatory for an altarpiece in the Zara Cathedral, which Carpaccio probably undertook in 1493; although the drawing omits the landscape in the painting, it represents many other details of similar design. The subject is based on an episode from the life of Saint Martin of Tours (ca. 315-397 A.D.), as told in Jacobus de Voragine's 'Golden Legend.' The saint, a young soldier in the Roman army, is seen here on horseback, in the act of cutting off a piece from his cloak with his sword to clothe the beggar standing by his side toward the center. Vittore Carpaccio was the leading painter of late fifteenth-century Venice, along with Giovanni and Gentile Bellini.
- Artist
- Vittore Carpaccio
- Date
- 1493–1500
- Medium
- Pen and gray ink, brush and gray wash, over faint traces of black chalk
- Department
- Drawings and Prints
- Credit line
- Purchase, Charles and Jessie Price Gift, 2002
