Departure of the Pilgrims

Carpaccio's Departure of the Pilgrims from around 1495 shows the beginning of Ursula's pilgrimage journey—the princess and her eleven thousand virgins setting out by sea—in a composition dominated by the harbor and ships that gave Venetian painters their most characteristic scenic element. The departure scene was an opportunity for Carpaccio's most ambitious documentation of maritime Venice: the ships with their elaborate rigging, the crowd of departing pilgrims on the wharf, the harbor architecture, and the open lagoon receding into atmospheric distance. The scene's combination of narrative clarity—the specific moment of departure—with panoramic documentation of Venetian harbor life demonstrates the dual function of the Ursula cycle as both devotional narrative and visual encyclopedia of fifteenth-century Venice.

The harbor setting provides a rich backdrop of ships, buildings, and water rendered with Carpaccio's meticulous precision. The departure creates narrative momentum while the detailed harbor scene establishes the maritime context essential to Venetian identity.