VERONESE, PAUL (PAOLO), the name by which Paolo Caliari (or Ca gliari), an Italian artist of the Venetian school, is usually known, from his hav ing been born at Verona, probably in 1528. A sculptor': son, he studied paint ing under an uncle, Antonio Badile, and, after some work in his native city and Mantua, in 1555 settled in Venice, where he rapidly acquired both wealth and rep utation. He had for contemporaries both Titian and Tintoretto, and, though 50 years Titian's junior, was held in equal admiration with these famous painters. The Church of San Sebastiano, in Venice, contains many of his pictures (both frescoes and easel pictures, from the story of Esther, martyrdoms, etc.) which are reckoned the most important of his earlier period—the period before his visit to Rome (1563), when he first became acquainted with the masterpieces of Raphael and Michx1 Angelo. The in fluence of the Roman school on his style was marked, new dignity, grace of pose and ease of movement being added to his rich Venetian coloring; a specific deco rative element is also hereafter more con spicuous. He was kept busy with innu merable commissions, some of which he executed elsewhere than at Venice (as at Vicenza and Treviso). Veronese is re markable more for the fertility than for the depth or spirituality of his imagina tion. His design is generally noble, his
composition rich, and his execution truth ful. In the invention of details, espe cially, he is inexhaustible, and often overloads his pictures with ornament. One peculiarity of his works is the fre quent introduction of splendid architec tural backgrounds, which, however, were frequently painted by his brother Bene detto. The most celebrated of his works —many of them very large—is the "Marriage Feast at Cana of Galilee," now in the Louvre at Paris; it is 20 feet high, and 30 in length, and con tains 120 figures, many of them por traits of his contemporaries, and the de tails much more 16th-century than ancient Jewish. Besides these may be mentioned: "The Calling of St. Andrew to the Apostleship," "The Feast of Si mon," and (in the National Gallery) the "Presentation of the Family of Darius to Alexander," and "St. Helena's Vision of the Invention of the Cross"—the former purchased for $65,000, and the latter for over $15,000. Veronese was the last of the great Venetian painters. He died in Venice, April 19, 1588, and was buried in San Sebastiano.