Vittore Carpaccio
Dream of St. Ursula

The original painting has an almost square format with side lengths of almost three metres. The sides of the reproduction shown here are each around 1.60 metres long. 

The picture shows a room with Ursula sleeping in a bed. A barefoot blond angel stands near the foot of the bed, at the bottom right of the picture. Bright light streams into the very high room through a doorway behind him. It makes the folds of his floor-length robe appear in various shades of blue. The large brown wings extend upwards over his shoulders. The angel is holding a long palm branch. His gaze is directed towards Ursula, at the bottom left of the picture.

The princess is lying on her back in the wide bed under a white sheet that is draped over a red blanket. She has placed her right hand on her cheek. Her head is resting on a white pillow. The crown is placed at the foot of the bed, on a bench. The bed has four narrow high posts supporting a red canopy. This runs parallel to the upper edge of the picture. In front of the bed, blue shoes and a curled-up cat with grey-brown fur lie on a carpet. 

There is a second door at the back left of the room. It is open. To the right of it are two arched windows. The sky behind them appears blue. There are green plants in ceramic pots in the window recesses. The room is also furnished with a bookshelf, a square wooden table with a book and pen, a stool, a chair next to the bed and a devotional picture.

The group of pilgrims has taken up quarters in Rome. In an expensively furnished chamber, Ursula is fast asleep on a tester bed. The crown at the foot of her bed identifies her as a princess.

There's time for us to take a good look around the room. On the wall behind the sleeping woman hangs a small devotional picture with a candle and a holy water pot. Beyond that, there's an open door with an antique statuette above the lintel. A pair of tubs stands in the windows, one with myrrh, the other with a clove plant – symbolising love and honour. On the right, there's a low bookcase with a stool and a small table in front of it on which several books, an hourglass and a quill can be seen.

It's early morning. As Ursula sleeps peacefully, an angel has entered the room from the right to announce her approaching martyrdom in a dream. And that is exactly what comes to pass. On their return journey, Ursula, Aetherius, the Pope and the eleven thousand virgins will pass through Cologne and fall into the hands of the Huns. The entire group of pilgrims will be pierced by arrows or slain – including Ursula, who refuses to surrender to the enemy commander's son and goes down in church history as a martyr.

Carpaccio created extremely detailed scenes for the cycle of paintings commissioned by the lay confraternity Scuola di Sant'Orsola on the life and death of their patron saint. And he drew inspiration from a wide variety of sources as he created his pictures: literature and the theatre, contemporary architectural drawings, seafaring, the culture of the court and everyday life in Venice. It allowed him to establish himself as a storyteller and chronicler of everyday life in the society of early modern Venice.

After arriving in Rome, Ursula sleeps in a four-poster bed. The room is elegantly furnished. Let's look around the room: At the foot of Ursula's bed lies a crown, a sign that she is a princess.

On the wall behind the sleeping Ursula hangs a small holy picture with a candle and a vessel for holy water. Beyond that, there's an open door with an antique statuette above it. In the windows there are two flowerpots with myrrh and carnations – the two plants represent love and honor. On the right, there's a bookcase with a stool and a small table in front of it on which there are several books, an hourglass and a quill.

Early in the morning, an angel enters Ursula's bedroom to tell her about her martyrdom in a dream: On the journey home from Rome, Ursula, Aetherius, the Pope and the 11,000 virgins will come to Cologne. There, the group of pilgrims will be attacked by the Huns, shot with arrows or killed. Ursula, who does not want to surrender to the son of the enemy general, will die. Through her suffering and death, Ursula becomes a martyr of the Catholic Church.

For the nine pictures about Ursula's story, Carpaccio drew inspiration from books, plays, building plans, seafaring and the city of Venice itself with its people, houses, marketplaces and festivals. Carpaccio's pictures make him one of the most important storytellers and reporters of everyday life in Venice.