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| Paolo Veronese, 'The Last Supper', 1573, Venice, Galleria Accademia (photo:Andy Barker) |
It
is huge. That was the first thing that
struck me when I saw this painting in real life. It is forty-two feet in length, almost twice
as long as our whole house! That dot
standing next to the painting is me, which gives some idea of its
magnitude. The figures are life size and
the whole work has a monumentality which is breathtaking. Having seen this work many times in books and
even having taught a lesson on it, I had never fully appreciated its sheer
size.
One
thing I had always appreciated, however, was the busyness of the painting. It is absolutely crammed with people. A fun thing to do is to count them. I have tried this and come up with
forty-eight people. Let me know if you
agree! It is also not a peaceful
picture. The many figures are doing all
sorts of things: having conversations, eating, serving food, pouring wine,
climbing, playing the fool and even picking their teeth!
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| detail of man picking his teeth (photo: Andy Barker) |
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| detail: wine being served and drunk (photo: Andy Barker) |
The
question is, what is this monumental painting actually about? This, however, is where the controversy comes
in. Paolo Veronese created this as a
Last Supper, showing Jesus with his twelve disciples on the night he was
betrayed. It was commissioned by the
Dominican monastery of Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice, to hang in their
refectory. Veronese completed it on 20th
April 1573 and the Dominican patrons were perfectly happy with it. However, the Spanish Inquisition was
apparently not! They summoned Veronese
to appear before a tribunal on 18th July and questioned him about
his ‘Last Supper’. Their main point was about the abundance and
the type of figures. During the actual
Last Supper the only people recorded as being present were Jesus and his twelve
disciples [1]. Jesus is certainly represented here, seated
in the centre and leaning towards one of his disciples, whilst Peter, on Christ’s
right carves some meat into a bowl. It
is quite difficult to distinguish all the disciples, although it has been
suggested that they are the ones on the same side of the table as Jesus [2].
This would be in keeping with other representations of the Last Supper, such as
Leonardo da Vinci’s famous work, also painted for a refectory. It could be argued, however, that Judas is the
man seated on this side of the table within the central arch, cast in shadow
and looking shiftily behind him.
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| detail: Jesus with Peter, John and possibly Judas (photo: Andy Barker) |
Although
the disciples and Christ are certainly in this painting, the Inquisition was
concerned about many of the other figures and their purpose here. What on earth was a buffoon with a parrot on
his wrist doing at this most sacred meal? Surely, this type of figure distracted the
viewer from the importance of the central scene. Why were two German soldiers included and why
were they drinking wine and eating bread? Was this a concealed Lutheran message
about the Eucharist [3]?
Finally, why were two dogs, a cat eating a fish bone beneath the table and a
man picking his teeth, present at the Lord’s Supper?
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| detail: a 'fool' with a parrot (photo: Andy Barker) |
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| detail: two German soldiers drinking (photo: Andy Barker) |
Veronese
did have an answer: Because there was a lot of space to fill! He had been commissioned to paint a huge
picture and, “…it seemed to me that it could hold many figures” [4]. He pointed out that artists used their
imagination and that he had received the commission to decorate it as he “saw
fit”, thereby defending himself from the accusation that he had done anything
unseemly. He went on to say that he was
following where other artists, superior to himself, had led. Michelangelo, for example, had painted Christ,
his mother Mary, and various saints, without garments, in the Sistine Chapel [5]. The Inquisition was not convinced by his
argument, however, and told Veronese in no uncertain terms, to change his
painting or face the consequences.
So,
Veronese did…well, a tiny bit. He just changed
the name of his painting to the Feast in the House of Levi, thereby
allowing for a greater number of figures and not changing his actual work of
art at all.
Go
and see Veronese’s ‘unacceptable’ Last Supper in the Galleria Accademia in
Venice and marvel at the incredible detail of his abundant figures.
Alison
Barker
Coming next: Have you seen...the Lady in a Railway Station with a Parasol?
[1]
The Bible, Luke 22:7-22
[2] http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/veroneses-feast-in-the-house-of-levi.html
[accessed 31/01/14]
[3] Black
C F (et al), Atlas of the Renaissance,
1993, Andromeda Oxford Ltd, Oxford, p.99
[4] Paoletti
J, Radke G, Art in Renaissance Italy,
(4th ed), 2011, Laurence King Publishing, London, p.504
[5]
ibid
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