Veronese

In 1561, Veronese received one of the most important secular commissions in his career: the fresco and stucco decorations for the Palladio-designed Villa Barbaro at Maser, near Treviso. Veronese transformed the interior with superb trompe-l’œil architectural details that counteracted the austere rhythm of the building itself; the rooms are covered in elaborate allegorical scenes, playfully interspersed with portraits of real characters. Around 1565, Veronese painted The Martyrdom of Saint George, arguably his finest work, which remains in situ on the high altar of San Georgio in Braida, Verona. Measuring over 4.3 meters high, the majestic canvas demonstrates his bravura fusion of dramatic classical architecture, dazzling colour and a highly developed spatial imagination underpinned by his virtuoso powers as a draughtsman. During this decade Veronese also produced vast canvases of New Testament Feasts for church refectories, perhaps most famously The Marriage Feast at Cana (1562–63) for San Giorgio Maggiore (now Musée du Louvre, Paris), which includes a series of portraits of Francesco Bassano, Jacopo Tintoretto, Titian and Veronese as musicians. One such feast picture, The Feast in the House of Levi (1573, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice), resulted in his appearance before the Inquisition, charged with having included improper figures in a religious composition. Wittily defending himself, he was ultimately acquitted and became famous for his declaration, ‘we painters take the same liberties as poets and madmen.’

Veronese was a vastly prolific and versatile artist. He produced large allegorical canvases with grand portraits, often on an extraordinary scale, as well as incorporating family portraits into more complex compositions, such as the Virgin and Child with Saints and the Cuccina Family (Gemäldegalerie, Dresden). Developed with a rapid, assured handling of fluid paint, Veronese resorted to oil sketches as a way of mapping out colour and contrast for such complex, final compositions. Also included in his repertoire were immense portego paintings, intended for the porch or reception area in Venetian palaces, such as The Family of Darius before Alexander (National Gallery, London), myriad altarpieces, as well as smaller paintings made for use in private devotional practices. Not only did he paint narrative compositions, but also portraiture. Notable examples include  La Bella Nani (Musée du Louvre, Paris) and Portrait of Count Collaltino di Collalto (Castle Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou, Czech Republic).

Later in life, Veronese created dark, meditative works like The Agony in the Garden (Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan) and The Miracle of Saint Pantaleon (San Pantaleone, Venice). When he died in 1588, Veronese’s workshop continued under his brother Benedetto and sons Carlo (known as Carletto) and Gabriele, but gradually declined. The enterprise was known and signed works as ‘Haeredes Pauli’ (Paolo’s heirs).

Generations of artists travelled to Venice to study Veronese’s work closely and myriad prints, produced after his paintings, disseminated across Europe. His influence is evident on artists from the Carracci, Rubens, and Van Dyck to Watteau and Delacroix. Most indebted to him is perhaps his later Venetian successor, Giambattista Tiepolo, who directly copied many of his works and similarly decorated frescos in villas of the Veneto (Pisani, Valmorana); the Swedish connoisseur Count Tessin called Tiepolo ‘a follower of Paolo Veronese’ and complimented the Renaissance master for ‘everyone in his pictures is richly dressed, even the beggars, etc. But isn’t this the fashion? Besides, he is full of wit…with boundless inspiration, a dazzling sense of color, and works with astonishing rapidity.’