CARPACCIO, kar-pa'cho, Vittore, Italian artist: b. Venice about 1450; d. 1525. He was one of the most celebrated masters of the old Venetian school, and was the rival of Bellini and the last Vivarino. He studied probably with Bastiani, and came also under the mfluence of Gentile Bellini. All that is known of his life is that he belonged to Venice, of which he has reproduced in the background of his pictures the streets and monuments. His dis tinguishing characteristics are natural expres sion, vivid conception, correct arrangement and great variety of figures and costumes. He also excelled as an architectural and landscape painter. His favorite employment was the dramatic representation of sacred subjects, sev eral of which he has illustrated by a series of paintings. Of these the most celebrated are the histories of Saint Ursula and Saint Stephen. The former, consisting of nine pictures, is now in the Academy of Venice, and has been en graved; the latter, in five pictures, is in Paris, M ri Milan and Berlin. The 'Madonna and Child Enthroned,' supposed to be an earlier produc tion, is in the National Gallery, London. He also painted a number of smaller pictures. The latest research on Carpaccio may be found in the monograph by Ludwig and Molnienti (Milan 1906; trans. by Cust, London 1907).
kar-pa'ne, Giuseppe, Italian dramatist and writer on music: b. Villalbese,
near Milan, 28 Jan. 1752; d. Vienna, 22 Jan.
1825. Having prepared for the profession of the law, he afterward devoted himself to liter ary pursuits, and produced a great number of plays and operas, partly translations and partly original. In 1792 he was editor of the Gasetta di Milano, and wrote violent articles against the French Revolution. He was obliged to leave the city after the invasion of the French and went to Vienna, where he was appointed censor and director of the theatre. In 1809 he accom panied the Archduke John in the expedition against Napoleon. Under the title of 'Hay dine,' he published a series of curious and in teresting letters on .the life and works of his friend Haydn, the composer. These letters, published in a French translation as an original work by L. A. C. I3ombet, or, as other biog raphers state, by• Beyle (known under the tionfrde-plume of SrErunisi.), gave rise to a great literary controversy, in which Carpani vindicated his authorship most successfully. Consult Tipaldo, 'Biographa degli Italiani illus tri' (giving a complete list of the works of Carpant) ; Colomb, M., 'Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de M. Beyle> (1846).