Feast in the House of Levi
Dublin Core
Title
Description
Veronese was commissioned in 1573 to paint a great banqueting picture for the convent of San Giovanni e Paolo [1]. It is a large oil painting, that now resides in the Galleria dell’Accademia in Venice. Its original name, The Last Supper, was indicative to the religious matter it was meant to portray. However, the Inquisition during the Reformation of the Catholic Church was furious with the way Veronese painted the sacred event of Christ’s last supper and he was forced to rename the painting, Feast in the House of Levi [2]. This painting is last in a series of monumental banquet paintings including, The Wedding Feast at Cana and Supper in the House of Gregory the Great [3].
Feast in the House of Levi depicts the biblical event of the last supper of Christ where he declares that one of his disciples would betray him. The picture is split into three parts by grandeur arches and two large columns reminiscent of Renaissance architecture popular in Venice. The background is made up of indistinct, hazy buildings consisting of very little color, which is brightly contrasted against the middle and foreground of vivid colors and lively figures. Jesus Christ is the center of the painting but the bustling crown is very loud and expressive. This effectively draws the eye away from him and to the commotion of a social event happening all around him, rather than to the spiritual event taking place and being the main focus. Veronese was well know for his painting of figures, and this painting does not disappoint [2]. Each figure has its own distinct physical appearance and action, the attention to detail in his figures can be seen with Judas. Judas, the traitor to Christ, is sat opposite of Christ facing slightly away and wearing a weary, uncomfortable face as well as being draped in bright red colors making him stand out even more as suspicious. There are figures from all different cultures such as German soldiers located to the far right and men wearing turbans to the opposite side. This is an indicator of the cultural center that Venice was due to its role as an important trade city, full of life and people from all over visiting.
[1] Haldane MacFall, “Feast in the House of Levi,” Feast in the House of Levi, 1911, http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/martin/art_law/feast_in_the_house_of_levi.htm.
[2] Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker, “Paolo Veronese, Feast in the House of Levi,” Smarthistory, accessed September 30, 2020, https://smarthistory.org/paolo-veronese-feast-in-the-house-of-levi/.
[3] “The Feast in the House of Levi (1573),” Feast in the House of Levi, Paolo Veronese: Analysis, accessed September 30, 2020, http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-paintings/feast-in-the-house-of-levi.htm.
Creator
Source
Harris, Dr. Beth, and Dr. Steven Zucker. “Paolo Veronese, Feast in the House of Levi.” Smarthistory. Accessed September 30, 2020. https://smarthistory.org/paolo-veronese-feast-in-the-house-of-levi/.
“The Feast in the House of Levi (1573).”
Feast in the House of Levi, Paolo Veronese: Analysis. Accessed September 30, 2020. http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-paintings/feast-in-the-house-of-levi.htm.
Feast in the House of Levi. painting. Place: Gallerie dell'Accademia di Venezia. https://library.artstor.org/asset/SCALA_ARCHIVES_1031314658.
MacFall, Haldane. Feast in the House of Levi, 1911. http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/martin/art_law/feast_in_the_house_of_levi.htm. Paolo Veronese. 1571-73.
Publisher
Image Source: Veronese, Paolo. The Feast in the House of Levi. Art Resource. Accessed 2020. https://www.artres.com/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox_VPage&VBID=2UN365G43D9HL&IT=ZoomImageTemplate01_VForm&IID=2UNTWAG0AC&PN=3&CT=Search&SF=0.