Veronese

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Masterpieces in Colour Edited by--M. Henry Roujon

VERONESE

(1528-1588)

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IN THE SAME SERIES

REYNOLDS HOLBEIN VELASQUEZ BURNE-JONES GREUZE LE BRUN TURNER CHARDIN BOTTICELLI MILLET ROMNEY RAEBURN REMBRANDT SARGENT BELLINI CONSTABLE FRA ANGELICO MEMLING ROSSETTI FRAGONARD RAPHAEL DÜRER LEIGHTON LAWRENCE HOLMAN HUNT HOGARTH TITIAN WATTEAU MILLAIS MURILLO LUINI WATTS FRANZ HALS INGRES CARLO DOLCI COROT GAINSBOROUGH DELACROIX TINTORETTO FRA LIPPO LIPPI VAN DYCK PUVIS DE CHAVANNES DA VINCI MEISSONIER WHISTLER GEROME RUBENS VERONESE BOUCHER VAN EYCK MANTEGNA

IN PREPARATION

FROMENTIN PERUGINO

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[Illustration: PLATE I.--JUPITER DESTROYING THE VICES

(In the Musée du Louvre)

This large composition shows a method rarely employed by Veronese. The great imaginative artist here tried his hand at the more vigorous school of painting, and with complete success. It is especially admired for certain remarkable effects of foreshortening. This picture, painted for the Ducal Palace, served as a ceiling decoration in Louis XIVth's chamber at Versailles, until it was finally transferred to the Louvre.]

VERONESE

by

FRANÇOIS CRASTRE

Translated from the French by Frederic Taber Cooper

With Eight Facsimile Reproductions in Colour

[Illustration: IN SEMPITERNUM.]

Frederick A. Stokes Company New York--Publishers

Copyright, 1912, by Frederick A. Stokes Company

August, 1912

The·Plimpton·Press [W·D·O] Norwood·Mass·U·S·A

CONTENTS

Page Introduction 11

The First Years 16

The Sojourn in Venice 27

The Wedding at Cana 38

Veronese and the Inquisition 47

The Journey to Rome 52

The Return to Venice 53

The Decoration of the Ducal Palace 57

The Last Years 65

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Plate I. Jupiter Destroying the Vices Frontispiece In the Musée du Louvre

II. The Disciples at Emmaus 14 In the Musée du Louvre

III. The Holy Family 24 In the Musée du Louvre

IV. The Wedding at Cana 34 In the Musée du Louvre

V. The Family of Darius 40 In the National Gallery, London

VI. Calvary 50 In the Musée du Louvre

VII. The Marriage of St. Catherine 60 In the Accademia delle Belle Arti, Venice

VIII. The Vision of St. Helena 70 In the National Gallery, London

[Illustration]

INTRODUCTION

It has been said of Veronese that he was the most absurd and the most adorable of the great painters. Paradoxical as it sounds, this judgment is perfectly true. Absurd, Veronese undoubtedly was, in his disdain of logic and common sense, in his complete indifference to historic truth and school traditions, and in his anachronistic habit of garbing antiquity in modern raiment. "I paint my pictures," he said, "without taking these matters into consideration, and I allow myself the same license which is granted to poets and to fools." And it is precisely his riotous fantasy, his naïve self-confidence, his own peculiar way of understanding mythology and religion that have made him the adorable artist whose glory has been consecrated by the centuries.