Note 30 — BOOK I.

The country is impressed with this persuasion in spite of his own signatures, attached even to the pictures in Istria. In that, cited at page 48, it is written Victor Charpatius Venetus pinxit, 1516; in another, at San Francesco di Pirano, Victoris Charpatii Veneti opus, 1519. Benedetto Carpaccio, probably a son or nephew of the preceding, was also a Venetian, of whom there remains a picture of the Coronation of the Virgin, at Capo d'Istria, in the Rotunda, subscribed, Benetto Carpathio Veneto pingeva, 1537. At the Osservanti, is the picture of the Nome di Gesù, with the same words, but dated 1541. He is not mentioned in Venetian history, though highly deserving a place in it; for whatever traces he retains of the ancient stiffness of manner, in the extremity of his figures, yet he yields not to many in softness of tints; in the taste of his colours; expression of features, and the effect of his chiaroscuro. I am led to think, that from residing out of the capital, this artist was supposed to be a native of Istria, but he was indisputably of a Venetian family, most probably tracing its origin from Murano.