Part of the permanent collection at the NGA, Carpaccio’s imaginative painting shows the Virgin Mary absorbed in her reading. Dressed in a period Venetian dress, the Virgin is positioned in an unusual profile position instead of looking out at the viewers. The painting is generally believed to have been cut down, perhaps in the 18th century, because only part of the Christ child is visible on the left-hand side and may have originally been part of a larger work.