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PAUL VERONESE (1528-1588)

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 966 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PAUL VERONESE (1528-1588)  , the name ordinarily given to See also:Paolo Caliari, or Cagliari, the latest of the See also:great See also:cycle of painters of the Venetian school, who was See also:born in See also:Verona in 1528 according to Zanetti and others, or in 1532 according to See also:Ridolfi . His See also:father, Gabriele Caliari, a sculptor, began to See also:train Paolo to his own profession . The boy, however, showed more propensity to See also:painting, and was therefore transferred to his See also:uncle, the painter See also:Antonio Badile, whose daughter he eventually married . According to See also:Vasari, he was the See also:pupil of Giovanni Carotto, a painter proficient in See also:architecture and See also:perspective; this statement remains unconfirmed . Paolo, in his See also:early years, applied himself to copying from the engravings of See also:Albert Diirer and the drawings of See also:Parmigiano . He did some See also:work in Verona, but found there little outlet for his abilities, the See also:field being See also:pretty well occupied by Ligozzi, Battista dal See also:Moro, Paolo See also:Farinato, Domenico Riccio, Brusasorci and other artists . See also:Cardinal Ercole See also:Gonzaga took him, when barely twenty years of See also:age, to See also:Mantua, along with the three last-named painters, to execute in the See also:cathedral a picture of the " Temptation of St See also:Anthony "; here Caliari was considered to excel his competitors . Returning to Verona, he found himself exposed to some envy and See also:ill-will . Hence he formed an See also:artistic See also:partnership with Battista Zelotti, and they painted together in the territories of See also:Vicenza and Treviso . Finally Paolo went on to See also:Venice . In this See also:city his first pictures were executed, in 1555, in the See also:sacristy and See also:church of S . Sebastiano, an uncle of his being See also:prior of the monastery .

The subjects on the vaulting are taken from the See also:

history of See also:Esther; and these excited so much admiration that henceforward Caliari, aged about twenty-eight, ranked almost on a See also:par with See also:Tintoretto, aged about See also:forty-five, or with See also:Titian, who was in his eightieth See also:year . Besides the Esther subjects, these buildings contain his pictures of the " See also:Baptism of See also:Christ," the " Martyrdom of St See also:Marcus and St See also:Marcellinus," the " Martyrdom of St See also:Sebastian," &c . As regards this last-named work, dating towards 1563, there is a vague tradition that Caliari painted it when he had taken See also:refuge in the monastery . He entered into a competition for painting the See also:ceiling of the library of St See also:Mark, and not only obtained the See also:commission but executed it with so much See also:power that his very rivals voted him the See also:golden See also:chain which had been tendered as an honorary distinction . At one See also:time he returned to Verona, and painted the " Banquet in the See also:House of See also:Simon the Pharisee, with Jesus and See also:Mary Magdalene "—a picture now in See also:Turin . In 156o, however, he was in Venice again, working partly in the S . Sebastiano buildings and partly in the ducal See also:palace . He visited See also:Rome in 1563, in the See also:suite of See also:Girolamo Grimani, the Venetian See also:ambassador, and studied the See also:works of See also:Raphael and See also:Michelangelo, and especially the See also:antique . Returning to Venice, he was overwhelmed with commissions . He was compelled to decline an invitation from See also:Philip II. to go to See also:Spain and assist in decorating the See also:Escorial . One of his pictures of this See also:period is the famous " Venice, See also:Queen of the See also:Sea," in the ducal palace . He died in Venice on the loth (orperhaps rgth) of See also:April 1588, and was buried in the church of S .

Sebastiano, a See also:

monument being set up to him there by his two sons, Gabriele and Carlo, and his See also:brother, Benedetto, all of them painters . Beyond his magnificent performances as a painter, the known incidents in the See also:life of See also:Paul Veronese are very few . He was honoured and loved, being See also:kind, amiable, generous and an excellent father . His See also:person is well known from the portraits See also:left by himself and others: he was a dark See also:man, rather See also:good-looking than otherwise, somewhat bald in early See also:middle age, and with nothing to mark an exceptional See also:energy or turn of See also:character In his works the first quality which strikes one is their palatial splendour . The pictorial See also:inspiration is entirely that of the piercing and comprehens've See also:eye and the magical See also:hand—not of the mind . The human See also:form and See also:face are given with decorous comeliness, often with beauty; but of individual apposite expression there is next to none . In fact, Paolo Veronese is pre-eminently a painter working pictorially, and in no See also:wise amenable to a See also:literary or rationalizing See also:standard . He enjoys a sight much as See also:Ariosto enjoys a See also:story, and displays it in form and See also:colour with a zest like that of Ariosto for See also:language and See also:verse . He was supreme in representing, without huddling or confusion, numerous figures in a luminous and diffused See also:atmosphere, while in richness of draperies and transparency of shadows he surpassed all the other Venetians or Italians . In gifts of this kind See also:Rubens alone could be pitted against him . In the moderation of See also:art combined with its profusion he far excelled Rubens; for, dazzling as is the first impression of a great work by Veronese, there is in it, in reality, as much of soberness and serenity as of exuberance . By variety and apposition he produces a most brilliant effect of colour; and yet his hues are seldom See also:bright .

Phoenix-squares

He hoards his See also:

primary tints and his high See also:lights . He very rarely produced small pictures: the spacious was his See also:element . Of all Veronese's paintings the one which has obtained the greatest See also:world-wide celebrity is the vast " See also:Marriage at See also:Cana," now in the Louvre . It contains about a See also:hundred and twenty figures or heads—those in the foreground being larger than life . Several of them are portraits . Among the personages specified (some of them probably without sufficient See also:reason) are the See also:Marquis del See also:Vasto, Queen Eleanor of See also:France, See also:Francis I., Queen Mary of See also:England, See also:Sultan Soleyman I., See also:Vittoria See also:Colonna, See also:Charles V., Tintoretto, Titian, the See also:elder See also:Bassano, Benedetto Caliari and Paolo Veronese himself (the figure playing the See also:viol) . It is impossible to look at this picture without astonishment . The only point of view from which it fails is that of the New Testament narrative; for there is no relation between the Galilean See also:wedding and Veronese's See also:court-banquet . This stupendous performance was executed for the See also:refectory of the monastery of S . Giorgio See also:Maggiore in Venice, the See also:contract for it being signed in See also:June 1562 and the picture completed in See also:September 1563 . Its See also:price was 324 See also:silver ducats (=16o), along with the artist's living expenses and a See also:tun of See also:wine . There are five other great banquet-pictures by Caliari, only inferior in See also:scale and excellence to this of Cana .

One of them is also in the L luvre, a " Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee," painted towards 1570-1575 for the refectory of the See also:

Servites 1 Venice . A different version of the same theme is in the Brera See also:Gallery of See also:Milan . " The Feast of Simon the Leper " (1570) was done for the refectory of the monks of St Sebastian, and the " Feast of See also:Levi " (St See also:Matthew) (1573), now in the Venetian See also:academy, for the refectory of the monks of St See also:John and St Paul . In each instance the price barely exceeded the cost of the materials . The Louvre contains ten other specimens of Veronese, notably the " Susanna and the Elders" and the " Supper at See also:Emmaus." In the See also:National Gallery, See also:London, are ten examples . The most beautiful is " St See also:Helena's See also:Vision of the See also:Cross," founded upon an See also:engraving by See also:Marcantonio after a See also:drawing supposed to be the work of Raphael . Far more famous than this is the " See also:Family of See also:Darius at the Feet of See also:Alexander the Great after the See also:Battle of Issus"—the captives having mistaken See also:Hephaestion for Alexander . It was bought for 13,56o, and has even been termed (very unreasonably) the most celebrated of all Veronese's works . The See also:principal figures are portraits of the See also:Pisani family . It is said that Caliari was accidentally detained at the Pisani See also:villa at See also:Este, and there painted this work, and, on quitting, told the family that he had left behind him an See also:equivalent for his courteous entertainment . Another picture in the National Gallery, " See also:Europa and the See also:Bull," is a study for the large painting in the imperial gallery of See also:Vienna, and resembles one in the ducal palace of Venice . The Venetian academy contains fourteen works by Veronese .

One of the finest is a comparatively small picture of the Battle of See also:

Lepanto, with Christ in See also:heaven pouring See also:light upon the See also:Christian See also:fleet and darkness on the See also:Turkish . In the Uffizi Gallery of See also:Florence are two specimens of exceptional beauty—the " See also:Annunciation " and " Esther Presenting herself to See also:Ahasuerus" ; for delicacy and See also:charm this latter work yields to nothing that the See also:master produced . In Verona " St See also:George and St See also:Julian," in See also:Brescia the " Martyrdom of St Afra," and in See also:Padua the " Martyrdom of St Justina" are works of leading renown . Celebrated frescoes by Caliari are in four villas near Venice, more especially the Villa Masiera . His drawings are very See also:fine, and he took See also:pleasure at times in engraving on See also:copper . The brother and sons of Paolo already mentioned, and Battista Zelotti, were his principal assistants and followers . Benedetto Caliari, the brother, who was about ten years younger than Paolo, is reputed to have had a very large See also:share in the architectural backgrounds which form so conspicuous a feature in Paolo's compositions . If this is not overstated, it must be allowed that a substantial share in Paolo's fame accrues to Benedetto; for not only are the backgrounds admirably schemed and limned, but they govern to a large extent the invention and See also:distribution of the See also:groups . Of the two sons Carlo (or Carletto), the younger, is the better known . He was born in 1570, and was sent to study under Bassano . He produced various noticeable works, and died See also:young in 1596 . Gabriele, born in 1568, attended, after Carlo's See also:death, almost entirely to commercial affairs; his works in painting are rare .

All three were occupied after the death of Paolo in See also:

finishing his pictures left uncompleted . See Ridolfi, Le Meraviglie dell' arte, &c.; Dal Pozzo, Vile de' piltori veronesi, &c.; Zanetti, Della Pittura veneziana, &c.; and Lanni ; also, among See also:recent works, the See also:biographies by C . Yriarte (1888); F . H . Meiotic' . (1897); and Mrs See also:Arthur See also:Bell (19o4) . (W . M .

End of Article: PAUL VERONESE (1528-1588)
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