The Dream of St. Ursula by Carpaccio: What it Reveals About Late 15th Century Female Spirituality

In June of 2023, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C and the Palazzo Ducale in Venice concluded an extremely rare exhibition on Carpaccio’s art. Carpaccio’s art has rarely left Venice, as his most important works are too large or too fragile. This exhibition, the first exhibition of Carpaccio’s art outside Italy, has slowly reinvigorated interest in Carpaccio’s works. Though often overshadowed by his contemporaries, Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, and Titian, Carpaccio is the most effective in conveying the realistic Venice in 1500. (Butterfield, 2023) This paper takes Carpaccio’s most renowned piece of work, the Cycle of Saint Ursula, to investigate the extent of female power in the household and the religious sphere, referencing historical sources and analyzing the contents of St. Ursula’s room. This paper argues that women in Venice in the late 15th and early 16th centuries were restrained rather than empowered by intertwined responsibilities in the domestic and spiritual spheres.