Paolo Veronese

Paolo Veronese – The Famous Italian Renaissance Painter

Introduction

Paolo Veronese was an Italian Renaissance painter known for the large history paintings of mythology and religions. Paolo was the major painter of the 16th-century knowns as a supreme artist who developed a naturalist style of painting influenced by Titian.

Early Years

Paolo was born in 1528 in Verona, Italy, as the son of a stonecutter and the youngest among the five siblings. Paolo Caliari was his actual name; he was nicknamed Veronese after his birthplace. He was brought up in Verona's artists' quarter in the district of San Paolo. While working with his father, Paolo's talent for drawing came to light, and his apprenticeship was transferred to a studio of a local master named Antonio Bandile. Later, he studied Mannerism in Parma. 

Famous Artforms

Paolo's art forms had many variations, and he painted various categories of painting, such as religious and secular paintings. The majority of Veronese's painting represents Christian themes. In 1552, the Temptation of St. Anthony showed his interest in the art of Titian. Veronese attained the sublime facility that was considered the hallmark of his style. His work was already demonstrated in the Sala del Consigliodei Dieci of the Ducal Palace. Veronese began to decorate the church of S. Sebastiano in Venice. The richest work of Veronese is The wedding at Cana, painted for a refectory. Other greatest works of his Christian themes were Christ among the Doctors, St. John Preaching, The HolyFamily with Saints Barbara. Veronese's other commissions to decorate refectories are the Feast of St. Gregory the Great, the Feast in the house of Simon, and the Feast in the House of Levi, during the 1570s. Veronese secular paintings were for the Ducal Palace and the Library of St. Mark's and the decoration of his villas. In 1583, The Triumph of Venice in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio of the Ducal Palace was Veronese's greatest accomplishment. Veronese's other achievement of his private commissions is the fresco decoration of Andrea Palladio's Villa Barbaro at Maser in 1561. 

Final days   

During the 1570s, Veronese completed the commission for The Feast in the House of Levi, a last supper oil painting for the rear wall of the refectory at the Basilica di Santi Giovanni e Paolo Castello, Venice. He died on 19 April 1588 at the age of 60; Veronese is still known as the supreme colourist of his time.