Ciao, Carpaccio!: An Infatuation

Book excerpt: Jan Morris returns to Venice in this loving tribute to one of the great Renaissance masters. In the course of writing Venice, her 1961 classic, Jan Morris became fascinated by the historical presence of a sometimes-overlooked Venetian painter. Nowadays the name of Vittore Carpaccio (1460–1520) suggests raw beef, but to Morris it conveyed far more profound meanings. Thus began a lifelong infatuation, reaching across the centuries, between a renowned Welsh writer and a great and delightfully entertaining artist of the early Renaissance. Handsomely designed with more than seventy photographs throughout, Ciao,Carpaccio! is a happy caprice of affection. In illuminating the life of the artist and his paintings, Morris throws in digressions about Venetian animals, courtesans, babies, ships, architecture, and history, and caps it all with thoughtful analyses of Carpaccio’s spiritual convictions. Part biography, part art interpretation, part personal odyssey, and all lots of fun, Ciao, Carpaccio! will no doubt help to rescue the name of a noble artist from its popular interpretation as an item of cuisine.