Hunting on the Lagoon (recto); Letter Rack (verso) Gm-00080101

Vittore Carpaccio (Italian, about 1460–1526) The hinges and latch on this two-sided panel suggest that it was used as a decorative window shutter or a door to a cabinet. The front depicts a scene of Venetian bird hunters, and the reverse shows a trompe-l'oeil (deceive the eye). Contemporary viewers looking at the front of the panel had the illusion of looking into the lagoon, as is evident in this reconstruction of how the panel once appeared.

Groups of three rowers and archers stand in shallow-bottomed boats and hunt cormorants, glossy black water birds. The archers use clay pellets rather than arrows in order to stun the birds and not damage their plumage. A pellet, seen in mid-air, has just been fired by an archer in the boat in the lower right-hand corner and is about to strike the bird in the foreground.

The lily blossom at the bottom left of the painting is out of scale with the rest of the image. Recent examination indicates that the hunting scene served as the background for a scene of two women sitting on a balcony overlooking the lagoon, a panel that is now in the Correr Museum in Venice. That painting has an empty stem in a vase sitting on a balustrade that matches up with the blossom in the Getty Museum's painting. The identical wood grain of the two panels confirmed that they were once a single panel. The two parts were probably sawed apart before the nineteenth century.

We make each of our prints one at a time—just for you.

Our Giclée Prints are printed here in Switzerland, one at a time, on heavy matte German art paper using the finest 12-color Canon archival inks. Some images are panoramic or tall and narrow—please select the 18" x 36" format for these.

Our Premium Museum Frame in Black is custom-made in Lugano, Switzerland, using natural wood moulding in a matte black satin finish. Each includes thick, hand-cut white mat boards and Plexiglass glazing. We tailor and print each image to fit its specific ratio and dimensions within our custom-made frames. The hand-cut mats are extra thick. Each bespoke museum frame ships in a custom box. Rush shipping is available for projects with tight deadlines—this is our specialty, and you will not be disappointed.

Our Antiqued Museum Frame in Gold is a high-quality frame made of solid wood, featuring traditional 19th-century cast plaster moulded details and closed corners. These frames are works of art in themselves, each with a unique patina. The hand-rubbed corners and gold finish evoke the elegance of times past. Your selected image is printed on German art paper with archival inks and mounted to quality art board within the frame. Plexiglass is added for print protection and the back is covered with Kraft paper and a hanger is supplied ready to hang..

Our Stretched Canvas prints are hand-stretched over 1.25" thick pine bars and printed with archival inks on a cotton-poly matte finish canvas. These are best-in-industry Swiss-quality canvases, hand-coated for UV protection.

Wall Murals are printed on a matte-finish, self-adhesive poly/fabric material that mounts easily and is ideal for smooth wall surfaces.

Our Note Cards are amazing—each is printed individually on 100% cotton art paper, comes with a kraft envelope, and is individually sleeved. (Image is scaled to fit the format.)

All of our images are digitized from the original negative or print and printed by our master printer to museum standards.

Questions? Please email service@archivea.com or call/text +41 79 265 8891.

Artwork in this collection is from The J. Paul Getty Museum. Reproduction rights are reserved by the copyright owner and used under license by Archivea GmbH.