Italian artist Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) is considered to be one of the 3 great masters of the Venetian School of the 16th century. His main influence was Titian, another Venetian master a generation older than himself.
His use of color to create dramatic effects defined his style, something that inspired some of the greatest artists that followed him, including Rubens, Watteau, Tiepolo, Delacroix, and Renoir.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at some of the most famous Paolo Veronese paintings, artworks that help you understand why he is considered to be one of the most famous Late Renaissance artists in history!
1. The Wedding at Cana
- Date Created: 1562-1563
- Dimensions: 677 × 994 centimeters (267 × 391 inches)
- Location: Louvre Museum, Paris, France
The Wedding at Cana is one of the multiple huge feast and banquet paintings created by Paolo Veronese. The setting is at a Renaissance Palace but it represents a popular Biblical story of the Marriage at Cana in which Jesus turns water into wine. Apart from over 130 guests including some very famous ones and fascinating architecture, the painter also included himself in the center of the composition, dressed in white playing a viola da braccio.
2. The Feast in the House of Levi
- Date Created: 1573
- Dimensions: 560 × 1,309 centimeters (220 × 515 inches)
- Location: Gallerie dell’Academia, Venice, Italy
The Feast in the House of Levi is another painting depicting a huge feast and one of the biggest canvas paintings created in the 16th century. Just as the Wedding at Cana, it was painted to decorate the wall of a refectory, this one at the Basilica di Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. The painting is remarkable because it got Veronese in trouble as it was intended to be a “Last Supper.” He was questioned by the Tribunal of the Holy Inquisition in Venice and changed the name of the painting shortly after.
3. The Conversion of Mary Magdalene
- Date Created: 1545–1548
- Dimensions: 163.5 × 117.5 centimeters (64.4 × 46.3 inches)
- Location: National Gallery, London, United Kingdom
The Conversion of Mary Magdalene is one of the most famous Paolo Veronese paintings because it was created when the artist was still in his teens. This means that it was one of his first commissioned, ordered by a patron in Verona. It depicts a scene in a 1535 book called “L’umanità di Cristo,” which is remarkable as it doesn’t depict a Biblical scene. It does allude to his future works as it depicts multiple people and architectural elements.
4. The Family of Darius before Alexander
- Date Created: 1565-1567
- Dimensions: 236.2 × 475.9 centimeters (93.0 × 187.4 inches)
- Location: National Gallery, London, United Kingdom
The Family of Darius before Alexander is another remarkable painting by Paolo Veronese because it depicts a scene that few artists had ever painted before him. It’s a scene in which the family members of Darius III, the Persian King who was just defeated by Alexander the Great, sit before him. It shows Alexander as a great commander as he showed leniency to Darius’ wife Stateira I, his mother, Sisygambis, and his daughters Stateira II and Drypetis.
5. Apotheosis of Venice
- Date Created: 1585
- Dimensions: 904 x 579 centimeters
- Location: Palazzo Ducale, Venice, Italy
The Apotheosis of Venice is a panel located on the ceiling of the Sala del Maggior Consiglio of the Palazzo Ducale in Venice. It’s one of the 35 panels decorating this ceiling and depicts the personification of the city of Venice on top of the composition who is about to be laureled for countless victories. The other figures in the painting represent peace, abundance, fame, happiness, honor, security, and freedom.
6. Feast at the House of Simon
- Date Created: 1570
- Dimensions: 275 × 710 centimeters (108 × 280 inches)
- Location: Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, Italy
The Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee is another banquet scene commissioned by the San Sebastiano, a Hieronymite monastery in Venice. It’s one of the multiple feasts he painted and the second with the theme of a feast at the house of Simon. The other one (less grandiose) was completed in 1565 and is located in a museum in Turin. This particular painting was also used as evidence during Veronese’s inquisition trial in 1573 as it features certain “unholy” elements.
7. Christ among the Doctors
- Date Created: 1548
- Dimensions: 236 × 430 centimeters (93 × 170 inches)
- Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain
Christ among the Doctors is a painting depicting a Biblical story in which the young Jesus Christ is in discussion with the elders at the Temple of Jerusalem. It has been a popular theme for various works of art and Veronese depicted it in his typical style of bright colors and the inclusion of elaborate architecture. It’s believed that famous Spanish Baroque artist Diego Velázquez brought it to Spain after his trip to Italy between 1649 and 1651.
8. Mars and Venus with Cupid and a Dog
- Date Created: 1580
- Dimensions: 163 x125 centimeters (64 × 49 inches)
- Location: Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
Mars and Venus with Cupid and a Dog is a painting that doesn’t leave much to the imagination and of which the title pretty much explains everything that is depicted. Venus sits on the knee of Mars and Cupid is at her feet together with a small dog. It was painted in the final decade of Veronese’s life and can now be admired at the National Gallery of Scotland.
9. Venus and Adonis
- Date Created: 1580
- Dimensions: 162 × 191 centimeters (64 × 75 inches)
- Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain
Venus and Adonis is a painting that depicts one of the most popular scenes in art history, the story of Adonis who sleeps at Venus’ lap while the latter had forecast that Adonis would die during a hunt. The story was taken from a narrative poem called “Metamorphoses,” which was created in the year 8 A.D. by the Roman poet Ovid. Just before he painted this work, Veronese had spent some time in Rome so he got the inspiration for the figures in that city.
10. Adoration of the Magi
- Date Created: 1573
- Dimensions: 355.6 x 320 centimeters (140 x 125 inches)
- Location: National Gallery, London, United Kingdom
The Adoration of the Magi is another painting that depicts a very popular theme in the world of art, the nativity story in which the Three Kings visit the infant Jesus Christ. It was originally commissioned to decorate a church in Venice but the painting was eventually sold to the National Gallery in London where it’s still on public display today!
