Paolo Veronese

We painters use the same license as poets and madmen. Paolo Veronese, at his hearing before the Inquisition in 1573

Along with the much older Titian and somewhat older Tintoretto, Veronese (Paolo Caliari, 1528–88) was one of the three great masters of the Venetian School in the High Renaissance.

He was best known for his large narrative historical, religious or mythological scenes and his sumptuous banquets, full of incident, noble figures and pageantry in ravishing, shimmering colours; he was notably fond of striking illusionism and foreshortening, and curious perspectives set in grand Renaissance stage sets of majestic Palladian architectural fantasies.

Born in Verona into a family of stone cutters, Veronese served apprenticeships with two leading painters in Verona: in 1540 with Mannerist painter Antonio Badile (later his father-in-law), and in 1544 with Giovanni Francesco Caroto. As a young artist, however, he was drawn to the rich bright colours art of Titian and after completing a number of works in Verona, he was given a chance to paint an altarpiece for the Giustiniani family in San Francesco della Vigna.