Veronese, Paolo (Paolo Caliari) (c. 1528–1588)

Italian painter, born in Verona. He was the pupil of Antonio Badile, but also learned from the study of Titian and Tintoretto. Some part of his youth was spent in the shop of his brother Antonio, who dealt in the embroidery and rich fabrics that were to play an important decorative part in his painting.

From 1555 he lived in Venice, producing those huge decorative compositions with their representation of splendid architecture and crowds of luxuriously dressed figures for which he is famous. He was active mainly in Venice. He specialized in grand decorative schemes, such as his ceilings in the Doge's Palace, noted for their rich colouring, broad composition, trompe l'oeil effects, and inventive detail. Religious, mythological, historical, or allegorical, his paintings – usually of banquets and scenes of pageantry – celebrated the power and splendour of Venice.

Many of his finest works are in Venice – in the Doge's Palace, the church of San Sebastiano, the Accademia, and the Villa Masiera – but elsewhere paintings now held include Marriage at Cana (1562–63, Louvre, Paris), the Family of Darius before Alexander (c. 1570, National Gallery, London), and the Finding of Moses (Mellon Collection, Washington, DC).

The Marriage at Cana is typical in its pomp and luxury, containing more than 130 figures, including portraits of many leading figures – Charles V, Francis I, Sultan Suleiman II, the painters Titian, Bassano, and Tintoretto, and the writer Pietro Aretino – together with an assortment of fools, dwarfs, pages, and dogs, in a grandiose architectural setting.

The Feast in the House of Levi (1573, Accademia, Venice), conceived as a version of the Last Supper but subsequently renamed, was considered irreverent in its treatment of a religious theme and caused Veronese to be questioned by the Inquisition in 1573. The Inquisitors pointed out that in Michelangelo's Last Judgement there were no such ‘drunkards nor dogs nor similar buffooneries’ as Veronese had painted. He answered: ‘Mine is no art of thought; my art is joyous and praises God in light and colour.’

In composition, in figure painting, and in tapestrylike schemes of colour, Veronese ranks with the greatest Venetians, and his work inspired the last brilliant efflorescence of mural painting in the 18th century, represented by Tiepolo. Veronese was assisted in his huge undertakings by his brother Benedetto and his sons Carlo and Gabriel, who carried on the work of his studio after his death.