countenance to the contention that he was held to be of great excellence
in his time.

Though some historians advance the suggestion that Carpaccio was a
native of Capo d'Istria, there is little proof that he was not, like his
father Pietro, born a Venetian. He seems to have worked in Venice all
his life, his first work being dated 1490 and his last 1520. In 1527 his
wife, Laura, declared herself a widow.

The narrative art needed by the confraternities was supplied in
perfection by Carpaccio, and one of his earliest independent
commissions was the important one of decorating the School of St.
Ursula. Devotion to St. Ursula was a monopoly of the school. No one else
had a right to collect offerings in her name or to put up an image to
her. The legend afforded an opportunity for painting varied and dramatic
scenes, of which Carpaccio takes full advantage, and the cycle is one of
the freshest and most characteristic things that has come down to us
from the quattrocento. Problems are not conspicuous. The mediocre
masters who have educated the painter have made little impression on
him. He is entirely occupied in delight in his subject and in telling
his story. The story of St. Ursula, told briefly, is that she was the
daughter of the King of Brittany. The King of England sends his
ambassadors to beg her hand for his son, Hereo. Ursula discusses the
proposal with her father, and makes the conditions that Hereo, who is a
heathen, shall be baptized, and that the betrothed couple must before
marriage visit the Pope and the sacred shrines. After taking leave of
their parents, the Prince and Princess depart on their expedition, but
Ursula has had a vision in her sleep in which an angel has announced her
martyrdom. She is accompanied on her journey by 11,000 virgins, and they
are received by Pope Cyriacus in Rome. The Pope then makes the return
journey with them as far as Cologne, where, however, they are assaulted
and massacred by the Huns, after which Ursula is accorded a splendid
funeral, and is canonised. The thirteen scenes in which the story is
told are arranged on nine canvases, and the painter has not executed
them in the chronological order, some of the latest events being the
least complete in artistic skill. Professor Leonello Venturi assigns the
following dates to the list:

1. The ambassadors of the King of England meet those of the
King of Brittany to ask for the hand of Ursula. Probably
painted fr