WorkRuskin copied this work from a cycle of nine paintings by the Venetian artist Vittore Carpaccio (c. 1460-1526) telling the story of St Ursula. Carpaccio produced these paintings for the Confraternity of St Ursula in Venice. They remain in Venice, though they are now displayed in the Accademia Gallery.
This work is a photograph of Ruskin's watercolour copy of 'The Dream of St Ursula', the fifth painting in the cycle. Gould added his own touch by hand-painting the photograph. The original copy is in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
Ruskin was deeply moved by 'The Dream of St Ursula'. The Accademia Gallery took the huge painting off display for him, so that he could copy it in private. He wrote to his cousin, 'There she lies, so real, that when the room's quite quiet, I get afraid of waking her!' (
Works, 24, p. xxxvii).
UrsulaThere are several versions of St Ursula's life. Carpaccio based his paintings on the
Legenda Aurea or
Lives of the Saints, published in Venice in 1475.
St Ursula was a Christian princess, who lived in the third or fourth century AD. She agreed to marry a pagan prince on the condition that he first accompanied her and 11,000 virgins on a pilgrimage across Europe to Rome. At Rome, Pope Cyriacus joined Ursula's pilgrimage. On her return home, she had a vision of an angel who foretold her martyrdom.