Cycle of paintings by Vittore Carpaccio
Life of the Virgin is a cycle of six large canvases by Vittore Carpaccio, dating to between 1504 and 1508. Originally painted for the sala dell'Albergo in the Scuola di Santa Maria degli Albanesi in Venice, they are now split between several museums. They are mostly in oil, though some of them are in mixed technique.
History.
Whilst still working on paintings for the Scuola degli Schiavoni, Carpaccio was summoned by their rivals the Scuola degli Albanesi to produce a cycle on the Life of the Virgin, joint patron saint of their confraternity with saint Gall. The confraternity later passed to the Pistori (i.e. the bakers) but was suppressed in 1808 during the Napoleonic occupation and all its furnishings and paintings sold off and split up, including the "Life of the Virgin" cycle.