Paolo (Paolo Cagliari) Veronese

Veronese was trained in his native Verona by a local painter, Antonio Badile (1518-1560), and then by Giovanni Caroto (1488-1563/66). The influence of both these masters appears in his earliest independent works, which were executed around 1546 for local patrons and institutions. He received his first commissions outside Verona in the early 1550s, when he worked for a number of wealthy Venetian families. Subsequently Veronese settled permanently in Venice, and in 1553-1554 he was involved in the ceiling decoration of various governmental chambers in the Palazzo Ducale; his later "soffitto" work at the Marciana library earned him the golden chain in 1557. Veronese is perhaps best known for his large-scale banquet scenes, such as the vast "Wedding Feast at Cana" (1562-1563) for the refectory of S. Giorgio Maggiore (Paris, Louvre). However, the "Last Supper" for SS. Giovanni e Paolo led to a charge of irreverence and his appearance in 1573 before the Inquisition; the painting was renamed the "Feast in the House of Levi" (Venice, Accademia). He subsequently received further commissions for the Palazzo Ducale, including that to execute the "Paradise" on the west wall of the Sala del Maggior Consiglio. However, that commission was left unfinished at his death, and was subsequently obtained by Tintoretto (1519-1594) (Turner, N.: From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci. A century of Italian drawings from the Prado, 2004, p. 112).