The Story in Paintings: A Feast of Veronese

Paolo Veronese (1528–1588) was and remains well known for his often huge paintings of feasts featured in the stories of the Christian gospels, about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. He painted many of these from the late 1550s, mainly to satisfy a market for large paintings to hang in the refectories (eating halls) of monasteries in Italy. At first sight, their narrative may seem simple, and consist of the gospel account of that particular event. However closer examination of their content shows that each contains cues to many other narratives, which appear unrelated to the central story. These appear to be largely confined to painting (and photographic) narratives, and may explain other puzzling paintings such as Poussin’s landscapes.