The Feast in the House of Levi

The Feast in the House of Levi

Paolo Veronese was a renaissance painter known primarily for his paintings relating to religion and mythology. His personality itself was very mysterious and little was known about him, due to few documentations of letters and personal life. [1] Nonetheless, he created many beautiful works of art. Perhaps his most unique is the The Feast in the House of Levi. This painting contains many aspects of typical feast paintings. It has a large, crowded banquet table with many guests, colors of numerous shades, which both highlight the indulgent nature of the figures during the feast. Furthermore, the painting incorporates typical architecture with the display of the white arches as well as a few Venetian buildings in the background of the paintings. Addtionally, Jesus Christ is a center focal point, which further demonstrates the importance of religion. He is shown surrounded by his saints, which demonstrates the social gathering that the feast provided. Another interesting aspect of this painting is the title itself. Scholars believed that this was more of a feast, rather than your typical Last Supper painting. Veronese inscribed the balustrade of the painting with the rubric "Fecit D. Covi Magnum Levi/Luca Cap. V." The text - "And Levi made him a great feast in his own house" - provided a title, The Feast in the House of Levi. [2] This ties in with the visual analysis because due to the contents of the painting, Veronese had to appear in court. The main concern of the court was the inclusion of fools, dwarfs and German soldiers, who had nothing to do with the biblical story of the Last Supper. [3] Court justices were worried that heretics could use this painting as fuel for their battle against the Holy Roman empire. 


[1] (Book) Garton, John. "Paolo Veronese’s Art of Business: Painting, Investment, and the Studio as Social Nexus." Renaissance Quarterly 65, no. 3 (2012): 753-808. Accessed September 30, 2020. doi:10.1086/668301.

[2] D'ARGAVILLE, BRIAN T. "Inquisition and Metamorphosis: Paolo Veronese and the "Ultima Cena" of 1573." RACAR: Revue D'art Canadienne / Canadian Art Review 16, no. 1 (1989): 43-99. Accessed September 30, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42630415.

[3] Grasman, Edward. "On Closer Inspection - The Interrogation of Paolo Veronese." Artibus Et Historiae 30, no. 59 (2009): 125-34. Accessed September 30, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40343668.

Paolo Veronese

Image and original data provided by SCALA, Florence/ART RESOURCE, N.Y.
http://www.artres.com/c/htm/Home.aspx
http://www.scalarchives.com

1573

Jared Kreis

(c) 2006, SCALA, Florence/ART RESOURCE, N.Y.

Oil on canvas, 560 x 1309 cm

Painting

Gallerie dell'Accademia di Venezia (Venice, Italy)