Along with Titian and Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) was one of the leading figures in the Golden Age of 16th century Venetian painting. He was actually born in Verona and though the surname of his parents – Gabriele, a spezapreda (stonemason), and Caterina – is unknown, the artist is recorded as using that of Caliari from 1555 onwards. At the age of 13 he became part of the Verona workshop of the painter Antonio Badile, and ten years later – in 1551 – already seems to have established contact with the world of patrician art patronage in Venice when, thanks to the architect Michele Sanmichieli, he was commissioned to paint the frescoes for the now-destroyed Villa Soranzo at Treville di Castelfranco. That same year he would also work in Venice itself, producing the altarpiece of Madonna and Saints for the Church of San Francesco della Vigna; there would also be works in Vicenza and for the Duomo in Mantua. His first really important commission in Venice came from the State government: together with Ponchino and Zelotti, he was appointed to do the paintings for the three rooms in the Doge’s Palace that were occupied by the Council of Ten (Sala della Bussola, Sala del Consiglio dei Dieci and Sala dei Tre Capi). The dramatic foreshortening in his compositions – which are seen against the background of the open sky – the shimmering colours of his palette and the power in the looks and gestures of his figures would make the artist an immediate success. Only a few years later he would paint three pictures for the magnificent Hall in Sansovino’s recently-completed Libreria Marciana. Meanwhile, since 1555, he had been working on the first part of the paintings for the church of San Sebastiano, which would ultimately decorate the sacristy, the ceiling, part of the choir and walls, the organ and the high altar. Completed in 1560, these works would bear witness to the aesthetic revolution that Veronese introduced into Venetian painting, with shimmering renditions of precious metals and stones within compositions of incisive draughtsmanship and powerful modelling. In the 1560s the artist would, amongst other things, work on the decor of buildings designed by Palladio: the Maser villa of the Barbaro brothers and then, immediately afterwards, the huge canvas of the Wedding Feast of Cana for the refectory of San Giorgio Maggiore (the work now hangs in the Louvre). From 1561 to 1566 he also worked at the Chiesa dell’Umilità on the Zattere, producing the three canvasses that today hang in the Rosary Chapel of San Giovanni e Paolo. Appreciation of the artist’s work was spreading rapidly, and he was commissioned to do numerous paintings – usually of religious subjects – both within Venice and beyond. In 1566 he married Elena Badile, the daughter of his former teacher, who would bear him five children; two of them – Carletto (1568) and Gabriele (1570) – would subsequently join their father in his studio. During the period 1565-1580 Veronese painted numerous of his masterpieces. These include works now in the Venice Accademia, amongst which is the imposing Supper in the House of Levi (1573). That painting was initially produced as a Last Supper for the monastery of San Giovanni e Paolo, but it fell foul of the Inquisition, which condemned the painter and ordered him to make various changes in a work that was suspected of heretical intent (hence the change of name). It was on this occasion that Veronese defended himself by saying that painters “allow themselves the same licence as poets and madmen”, and that when filling a large space they add figures to meet the requirements of the composition. In the 1570s came the second phase in the work for San Sebastiano (the paintings of The Martyrs in the presbytery, c.1570) and the large Allegories in the Doge’s Palace. Painted after the 1574 and 1577 fires in the building, these would include the marvellous works for the Sala del Collegio, the Anticollegio and the Sala del Maggior Consiglio. Here, Veronese shows himself to be a State artist who can give superhuman form to the symbols of the Republic, celebrating the glories of Venice in sonorous, polyphonic compositions. These last great paintings for the Doge’s Palace seem to mark the end of the triumphal period in the artist’s work; his later, more meditative, works are imbued with heightened pathos and a more crepuscular atmosphere – as one can see in the Adoration of the Shepherds in the church of San Giuseppe di Castello. In 1587 the artist would deliver the last work that can be dated with any certainty: the altarpiece for the Venetian church of San Pantalon. He died on 19 April 1588 in his house in the Venetian district of San Samuele and is buried in the church of San Sebastiano.

Paolo Veronese in Venice. Paolo Veronese in 1551 was in Venice, producing the altarpiece of Madonna and Saintsfor the Church of San Francesco della Vigna; from 1553 to 1555, together with Ponchino and Zelotti, he was appointed to do the paintings for the three rooms in the Doge’s Palace that were occupied by the Council of Ten (Sala della Bussola, Sala del Consiglio dei Dieci and Sala dei Tre Capi) and in 1556-57 he painted three pictures for the magnificent Hall in Sansovino’s recently-completed Libreria Marciana. Meanwhile, since 1555, he had been working on the first part of the paintings for the church of San Sebastiano, which would ultimately decorate the sacristy, the ceiling, part of the choir and walls, the organ and the high altar, completed in 1560. From 1561 to 1566 he worked at the Chiesa dell’Umiltà on the Zattere, producing the three canvasses that today hang in the Rosary Chapel of San Giovanni e Paolo. During the period 1565-1580 Veronese painted numerous of his masterpieces. These include works now in the Venice Accademia, amongst which is the imposing Supper in the House of Levi (1573). The second phase in the work for San Sebastiano (the paintings of The Martyrs in the presbytery, ca. 1570) came in the 1570s and the works for the Sala del Collegio, the Anticollegio and the Sala del Maggior Consiglio in the Doge’s Palace, painted after the 1574 and 1577 fires in the building. In the 1580s his later are imbued with heightened pathos and a crepuscular atmosphere – as one can see in the Adoration of the Shepherds in the church of San Giuseppe di Castello and in his last work, the altarpiece for the Venetian church of San Pantalon (1587). He died in 1588 and is buried in the church of San Sebastiano.