Paolo Veronese feast in the house of Levi. Paolo Veronese. "A feast in the house of Levi. An excerpt characterizing the Feast in the House of Levi

Being absorbed by several generations of artists of different schools, the Renaissance ideas about time were not necessarily embodied through a symbolic series. They unexpectedly appeared in compositions that deliberately rejected the canons, innovative, realizing other ideas and designs. This article discusses a work where the tasks put forward by the artist, at first glance, are far from both the established Christian symbolism and the symbolism of the time - P. Veronese's painting "Feast in the House of Levi". ...

Veronese. Feast in the House of Levi

In The Last Supper, Veronese surrounds Christ and his disciples minor characters dressed in contemporary artist clothes. All these people are so absorbed in their own affairs that they practically do not pay attention to what is happening in the central part of the composition, initially, according to the artist's intention, depicting the Last Supper. One might get the impression that the artist is being ironic, showing the indifference of contemporary people to the sacred scripture. Veronese himself not only did not strictly adhere to compositional schemes, which to a certain extent served as models, but he probably did not know the gospel text very well. This follows from his answers at the meeting of the tribunal of the Inquisition, where he confuses the plot of The Last Supper and the plot of The Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee. Shortly after the creation of the picture (1573), under pressure from the church authorities and the Inquisition, it was renamed "Feast in the House of Levi", which made it possible for the author not to make the required changes. These facts are important for us in view of the task set: to explore the manifestations of the Renaissance concept of time and its symbolism in the work, where they are present latently, perhaps, in addition to the author's will and intentions. If we move away from a direct and simplified reading of the composition and move to a higher level of its comprehension, corresponding to the level and scale of philosophical, religious and general cultural knowledge and ideas of Veronese's contemporaries, we can assume that the picture allows and implies a symbolic reading.

According to the Gospel of John, Jesus says that through him man can find "eternal life" (John 3:15). This idea finds a peculiar development in the proposition immortal life - eternal present expressed in the works of such philosophers as N. Kuzansky (one of the aspects of time in the picture). Note that the category present(in the sense of the chronotope) is very important in the symbolic structure painting. The present pictures are the core of developing events. However the present The picture implies a relationship with the past and the future and is embodied in a certain articulation of the composition.

Andrea del Sarto
Last Supper
1520-1525
Fresco
Monastery of Saint Salvi, Florence

The composition of the Veronese painting under consideration is divided by arches into three almost equal parts, which corresponds to the division of time into three psychologically representable states of dismembered time: past, present and future. In the context of such a formulation of the problem, these three parts of the picture space acquire temporal characteristics, and Jesus, depicted in the central part, is thus “in the center of Time”. In support of this thesis, one can refer to the established tradition of the central compositional arrangement of the figure of Jesus in the plot of The Last Supper, including works close in time to the creation of Veronese's painting (J. Tintoretto, A. del Sarto, El Greco, P. Pourbes and others). According to Christian theology (Gregory of Nyssa, St. Augustine, etc.), all historical time divided into two main periods - before And after, and its center is the earthly life of Christ. This is consistent with the opinion of modern cultural researchers about Christ as a key figure in human history. So G. Delling and O. Kullman characterize the time of the New Testament in the light of the appearance of Christ: “Time existed so that Christ could appear. He is the absolute center in all meanings and the core of time."

Thus, the composition of Veronese can be considered in accordance with the model: the middle arch, corresponds to present("eternal present"), side - before And after. R. Guenon, referring to esotericism, says that the idea of the center in the cross (in our picture it is the center of the composition) is associated with the concept of "divine station"

Brueghel. Carrying the cross. Procession to Golgotha.

Further, in order to follow the logic arising from this initial premise, one should understand the complex interrelation of two tendencies - following the developed rules and traditions and author's deviations and violations. Direct perspective directs the viewer's eye to Jesus as the main participant in the scene, but the architectural details and characters located in the foreground partially overlap the table at which the meal takes place, hide the figures of several apostles, reducing the sense of importance of what is happening. Thus, the plot is desacralized, and the picture reveals its connection with the works on gospel stories, where the ideas of the primacy of time and natural movement are brought to the center. A striking example of such works are the paintings of P. Brueghel the Elder. M. N. Sokolov, analyzing the composition "Carrying the Cross", writes: "... Brueghel's Fortune Mill, presented in a religious scene, nullifies the transcendentalism of the symbolism of the sacrifice of the Cross, because it embodies, first of all, the idea of the Eternal movement of the universe."

Veronese's unconventional and free interpretation of such an important, from the point of view of church dogma, plot as "The Last Supper" provoked anger from the Dominican order, as a result of which the artist was put on trial, and he, in the end, had to, in order not to make changes, change the name to "Feast in the House of Levi". This story (Luke 5:29) is considered secondary in sacred history and is not subject to the strict regulations adopted at the Council of Tredents. We are not interested in the changes made, but in the original concept of the painting, which gives us the right to compare it with the interpretations of the plot of The Last Supper in the works of Veronese's immediate predecessors and contemporaries.

The classic type of composition of The Last Supper in the Renaissance is represented by a fresco by A. Castagno, where a single undivided space unites all the action, thereby appealing to the image of a stopped "eternal time". At this moment of linear historical and, at the same time, "sacred" time, event, as close as possible to the center of all time (in the understanding of Christians). That is, this center is, as it were, correlated with the beginning and end of time, as well as with Eternity. Finding common features of Veronese's composition with other works, it should be noted that the paintings on this subject, created in Western Europe, have conceptual differences and, when classified, can be attributed to different types. A. Maykapar identifies liturgical (or symbolic) and historical types. In his opinion, "the historical Last Supper emphasizes the moment of predicting the betrayal of Judas, the liturgical Last Supper - the sacramental nature of the establishment of the Eucharist." Further, the author says that there are known examples of the “mixed type of the Last Supper”, when the artist combines certain circumstances of the historical Last Supper with the establishment of the Eucharist by Christ, that is, the liturgical Last Supper. The composition of Veronese does not emphasize either one or the other moment of the sacrament, and therefore does not belong to either one or the other type; we can say that it contains features of both. Veronese excludes historicity (that is, does not recreate the historical time of the life of Jesus and his disciples and the realities corresponding to it); in the image of clothing and architecture, two approaches coexist - an approximation to the present (the lifetime of the author) and creative fantasy. Such a “modernization” (and not only by Veronese) was necessary in the development of biblical and gospel stories in order to show the viewer the importance of the depicted - not only as an event that took place in the distant past, but also involved in a person - a contemporary of the artist. But such a “fusion” of times, characteristic of the Renaissance, when antiquity takes on new forms, and people of the past - carriers of eternal (and therefore relevant, modern) values and ideas are clothed in contemporary clothes for the artist, has a broader worldview context. It becomes clear when comparing ideas about time and experiences of time by a man of the Middle Ages and a man of the Renaissance. So deployed comparative analysis gives I. E. Danilova: “For a medieval person, time flowed against the backdrop of Eternity; once created, it inevitably had to end, and all its changes, all the events and actions that it carried in its stream, were inevitably imprinted, as if fitting into the infinite and unchanging present of eternity. And the man of the Middle Ages, carried away by this stream, lived in constant intense expectation of a double end: his own time, measured out to him by the creator, and the common end of all human time.

The temporal position of the Renaissance man is characterized by an increased intense experience not of the end of time, but of its beginning. It is no coincidence that the theme of the Last Judgment almost disappears from the art of the Quattrocento - one of the main ones in the Middle Ages. Awareness of one's time as a beginning, as a starting point from which the new begins, determines the self-awareness of the era in all areas of spiritual activity. Is our time, my time, the present, in which every person of the Renaissance lives, acquires an unprecedented significance.

A document has been preserved that reveals Veronese's understanding of the tasks of his art and relates to the painting "The Last Supper" ("Feast in the House of Levi") - the minutes of the meeting of the Venetian Inquisition Tribunal, at which the artist was accused of the lack of proper religious piety in this picture. The artist’s explanations speak only about one side of his artistic vision and method - this is festivity, decorativeness: “... since I have some free space left in the picture, I decorate it with fictitious figures<…>I was ordered to decorate it [the picture - D. Ch.] as I see fit; and it is large and can accommodate many figures<…>I made them [characters not related to the Last Supper itself - D. Ch.], assuming that these people are outside the place where the supper takes place. But these, having, it would seem, such a simple explanation of the features of the composition - in fact its festivity - are also associated with the concept of time in Renaissance painting. “If a medieval icon,” writes I. Danilova, “is a gap in human time, it is a window into eternity, a “holiday”, then a Renaissance painting is not so much a “holiday” as a festival, a spectacle, and in this sense it is all in the present ; a spectacle that unfolds on the street of a modern city, in a modern interior against the backdrop of modern nature. And even if the architectural and landscape backgrounds of Renaissance paintings are not always portraits, they are very precisely defined in time - this is the nature of modern Italy and modern architecture, which really exists or is intended to be realized, but is perceived as having already come true. Also in more connect the picture with the present images of real people present among the audience or even acting in the lead roles. But the present of the Renaissance is a hypertrophied present, which “contains in itself all times,” for “the past was present, the future will be present, and nothing is found in time except the sequential order of present moments”; The present draws into itself both the whole past and the whole future.

"Secret supper" JacopoTintoretto

Since the time of A. Mantegna, European painting has been increasingly striving for historical truthfulness, thereby leveling the timeless nature of religious painting. J. Argan, comparing the work of Tintoretto and Veronese, contrasts their methods: “<…>the first is characterized by "an understanding of history as a drama<…>, and nature as a fantastic vision, overshadowed or illuminated by ongoing events, and vice versa, Veronese's understanding of nature as an ideal place to live, and outside of it, history unfolds like a fantastic vision. Further, Argan, developing the thought of Veronese's painting, emphasizes that "in the traditions of the past, Veronese is not looking for formal role models or certain themes, but methods and processes for creating purely artistic values(my italics - D. Ch.). And so the artist considers painting as a purely color context, he does not show much preference for the historical or narrative plot. He strives to ensure that the image is perceived as something modern and real, and that the eye grasps it completely and immediately, without referring to the meaning. However, the “meaning” in a work can be not only of a moral and historical-semantic nature, but also of an abstract-philosophical nature, and the space-time continuum already speaks its own language, often moving away from the views and meaning put by the artist into his work. Argand also speaks of the closeness of Veronese's painting to "music with its pure combinations of sounds". This is not without interest in the context of our study due to the fact that music is a “temporal” art and, introducing the concept of “musicality of a painting”, we thereby translate the category of time in fine (that is, not temporary) art into a new quality, inextricably linked with the symbolic building works.

Such a vision of the spatial, non-temporal art of painting through the prism of the temporal art of music is sharply opposed by the position of Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo sees the main merit of painting in the fact that it overcomes time, preserving the present for eternity. A very important aspect of Leonard's understanding of the category of time in painting is noted by I. Danilova: “Painting, according to Leonardo, is able to resist time not only in this memorial quality. Painting is an art, fundamentally not temporary, and this is precisely its specificity. Leonardo makes a clear distinction between poetry and music, on the one hand, and painting, on the other. The first two types of art are designed for sequential perception in time, while painting should be revealed to the eye of the beholder all at the same time. The conclusion that Danilova makes, she extends to the painting of the Renaissance as a whole: “... the painting of the Renaissance can be considered not from the point of view of transferring temporal development in it, but, on the contrary, from the point of view of overcoming it; the painting of the Renaissance does not expand, but collapses the temporal perspective, compresses into “simultaneity, in which the contemplation of picturesque beauty is closed”, all plot before And after. In the painting of the Renaissance there is no fourth dimension, episodes at different times fit into the three-dimensional structure of the present.

In Leonardo's The Last Supper, the image of eternity and time finds, perhaps, the most classical and balanced character. Christ, of course, is the center of the composition; above his figure there is no (as in Veronese's painting) a crushing mass of arches. A single space is divided by windows into zones organically associated with compositional groups, but does not collapse and does not lose its integrity; "the unity of the concrete and the eternal" is preserved. The "Last Supper" was a mystery and did not allow other participants, except for Jesus and the disciples. Leonardo's work embodies the principle of identifying the "transcendental medieval god with the world." The Last Supper, in fact, ceases to be a mystery in the paintings of later artists, as the alienation of the divine, the eternal from the mundane, the temporal, grows. In Leonardo's composition, the "timelessness" of the images and the enigmatic nature of the main characters associated with it gave rise to a lot of interpretations of the picture. Veronez's picture is not a depiction of the sacrament in the Christian understanding - it is a depiction of movement, life, the all-consuming flow of time.

In many respects, Veronese repeats the general compositional scheme characteristic of solving the plot of The Last Supper (D. Ghirlandaio, A. del Castagno, L. da Vinci, etc.). pictures in temporal aspect. However, we must remember that we are considering the symbolism of time in its inseparable integrity with a spatial solution. The classic image model of this plot is Christ - the key figure located in the center of the picture, the most important force lines of the picture naturally emphasize his dominant role as the center of historical time (for Christians it meant all time). In Veronese's painting, the central figure - Christ - the most important moment of life on Earth - is emphatically immersed in the flow of events, where time acquires an abstract character that does not depend on the course of the "Sacred History".

Noting this feature, one cannot ignore Tintoretto's Last Supper, which also emphasizes the immersion of this event in the time stream, but this is achieved by other means. In The Last Supper from San Marquola (1547) there is practically no background, which creates a feeling of proximity to the heroes of the picture, and the floor, due to strong perspective distortion, creates the impression of slipperiness. The dynamism and emphatically temporal nature of Tintoretto's compositions lies not only in the movements of the figures: "<…>it is more a feature of the artist's technique.

In the composition of Tintoretto 1592-94. The Last Supper is shown as a dynamic event, where the semantic center is shifted to the right in an ascending line, which is enhanced by the horizon line passing over the head of Christ, which means placing the figure of Christ below the viewer. Veronese, formally continuing the tradition of depicting Christ as the key figure of the Sacred History in the center, compositionally subordinates it to other, larger-scale figures and compositional elements. By this, he calls into question the supremacy of sacred history over ordinary time.

The very plot of the composition suggests the depiction of a religious sacrament. M. Eliade noted that the entire history of religions is a "series of hierophany", manifestations of sacred reality. That is, the sacred reality can manifest itself in various forms (temple, mountain, stone, tree, etc.), while the earthly image takes on the symbolic function of the sacred. According to Eliade, the highest form of hierophany is Jesus Christ - God incarnated in man. “Thanks to this, the linear time of the Bible turns out to be sacralized, and the events of the New Testament, taking place in profane time, have become Sacred History, since their existence is transformed by the fact of hierophany” . However, the fact of hierophany in the paintings of the New Age is often questioned, and in connection with this, the sacred-profane vertical is violated, they seem to enter into a struggle, and time becomes an indifferent abstract category in the spirit of Newton's absolute time.

In Veronese's composition, a contradiction arises between the severity of the spatial solution and the semantic fullness of the depicted event (in the context of Christian culture). According to M. N. Sokolov, the culture of the 15th-17th centuries is characterized by the dominant role symbolic image Fortuny: “The development of pre-humanistic sentiments in the late medieval consciousness brings Fortune to the fore artistic culture <…>Constantly approaching Mother Nature, sometimes to the point of complete indistinguishability, Fortune includes the seasons and natural cycles in her symbolic manifestations, which already takes place in Boethius. In the dynamic cosmos of the Renaissance, which is replacing the static cosmos of the Middle Ages, the goddess of Fate regains the appearance of the mistress of fertility, directing the circular motion of the seasons<…>The mistress of the elements, she constantly gravitates towards usurping the rights of God. The Wheel of Fate grows to the scale of the entire Earth, covering the entire orbis terrarum, moreover, it also outlines the cosmic spheres. In the painting by Veronese, the hidden presence of Fortune is expressed in the rotational movement of figures (completely random from the standpoint of the iconography of this plot) around the table where the main characters. Compositional techniques in every way make it possible to feel the seemingly insignificance of this "historical" event in the global flow of time. What is most remarkable in this composition is that the rotation is expressed not in literally lined up figures in a circle, but through a complex system of spatial construction. The movement takes place, for the most part, in a horizontal plane, which is shown in the picture with the help of a low horizon line, which clearly coincides with the surface of the table on which the chalice (the symbol of the Eucharist) stands. Thus, all the key figures are somehow crushed by the mass of architecture.

Two mutually exclusive trends collided in Veronese's work: the work was created to promote Christian doctrine, the canons of the image of the Last Supper had deep traditions, in many respects the composition was justified from the point of view of theological dogmas and was influenced by mysticism. This composition was invaded by a culture related more to F. Rabelais than to papal Rome. The work contains the time of the folk element, which is perceived "largely cyclically, as a repetition" and the linear time of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Researchers of Veronese's work note that his "talents were the best way suitable for depicting mythological and allegorical subjects in painting.

Summing up at this stage of the study, it seems necessary to emphasize the complex relationship between the ancient mythological model of time and the linear irreversible model in the culture of Western Europe at the turn of the New Age. According to M. S. Kagan, “recognition of the biblical “Everything returns to normal ...” deprives time of its main difference from space and de-axiologizes its perception. Even the Renaissance transition from religious-mythological consciousness to scientific began with the discoveries of astronomy, the subject of which is spatial organization cosmos and the cyclical return of the outgoing in time. It is no coincidence that, along with discoveries in the natural sciences, thinkers of the 15th-17th centuries (P. del Mirandola, M. Ficino, Paracelsus, Copernicus, Galileo, T. Brahe, J. Bruno, J. Boehme, etc.) often turned to mysticism and revived some of the Gnostic ideas of late antiquity. Appeal to archaic models of time and space coexisted with revolutionary discoveries in astronomy. “The culture of the West returned to the “measure of all things” discovered by antiquity in Man, and not in God, and thereby recognized the value of human existence flowing in the temporal structure, and not the timeless existence of the gods, the value of the transient in reality, and not the eternal in the imaginary posthumous” existence”, unique — because “it is impossible to enter the same river twice…”, and not periodically returning in a new cycle of the plant world likened to life of the existential cycle”.

Each painting has its own temporality: in each work, the category of time is an important category along with space. For us, it seems wrong to consider the categories of space and time separately, since they are two inseparable categories of being - not only the physical world, but the symbolic world of arts, in which reality is intertwined with intelligible images, forming a special temporality in symbolic form. This temporality includes several provisions, which, in turn, form a single system in perception. artwork: time, era of creation of the work; life experience and time of the author, his ideological attitude; the symbolic structure of the painting, which goes back to the archetypal images of space and time; the direct experience of the viewer and his ability to “read” a pictorial picture. All these four components in the perception of the symbolism of time must be taken into account from the standpoint of hidden and explicit symbolism. Hidden and explicit symbolism are in dialectical dependence.

Original entry and comments on

“I want to say a few words here,” Veronese announced. “You see, we artists have the same privileges as poets and lunatics…” The inquisitors shuddered.

A resilient wind blew from the sea, the sky overhead arched like a blue sail, and seagulls screamed over the Grand Canal. Floated in a sunny haze with all its houses and churches Venice, a cheerful, light, festive city. On a hot July afternoon in 1573, Paolo Cagliari wandered thoughtfully through Piazza San Marco. Usually, not a single detail escaped his attentive eye, whether it was a donna sitting on the balcony and combing her golden curls, or a dandy, a boy-servant casting languid glances at her, hurrying somewhere with a large basket and almost running into a lover, or a fat a nurse in a snow-white starched cap, chastising some ragamuffin. Even the beam of sunlight that intricately illuminated the stones of the bridge aroused the admiration of the artist. But today he didn't seem to notice anything around him. His path lay to the Palazzo Ducale - the Doge's Palace, the main building of the republic, within the walls of which all important state affairs were conducted.

Long ago, in 1553, the twenty-five-year-old Veronese, not without timidity, first entered under the arches of this palace. Who was he then? The son of the Verona stone carver Gabriele, who with hard work tried to feed a large family - his wife Katerina and a horde of children. Noticing in Paolo a penchant for drawing, his father assigned his offspring to study with the not-so-famous, but skilled painter Antonio Badile. The boy clearly stood out from the rest of the wards, therefore, having learned that a fellow craft had received an order to decorate one of the halls of the Doge's Palace and was looking for an apprentice to help, signor Antonio put in a word for a capable youngster, and he went to Venice. As a result, it was Paolo who got the main subjects, although he still had a very modest pictorial experience. But, apparently, the guy managed to grab something spilled in the air of this amazing city, and the Venetians liked the talent of the Veronian.

After the Doge's Palace, Veronese - such a nickname he received - was entrusted with the decoration of the church of San Sebastiano, and those who came to look at the murals of the vaults admired what they saw. After some time, the Veronian, among other artists, was called to perform three tondos - round-shaped paintings in the library of San Marco. For this work, the already recognized master of the Venetian school of painting Titian Vecellio, paternally embracing a young colleague, presented him with an award for best job- a golden chain.

Since then, a lot of water has flowed under the canals, Veronese became known not only in the Most Serene Republic, but also far beyond its borders. In 1566 he married the daughter of his teacher, Elena Badila. Having moved to Venice, he painted biblical scenes for the local basilicas, decorated palazzos and villas, and made portraits. Together with his brother Benedetto, he founded a family business, where his sons Carletto and Gabriele also worked. In the studio of Veronese, work did not stop: paintings, mostly huge multi-figure canvases, were eagerly awaited by customers - monks, abbots of churches, rich seniors. And suddenly today the masters, the darling of the muses, were summoned to the court of the Inquisition ...

Admittedly, "Venice" life allowed much more freedom than in other Italian lands. In the Free Trade City, everyone, be it a courtesan, a spy, or a poet, was given the opportunity to do whatever their heart desires. No wonder Pietro Aretino found refuge here. A well-known wit in Europe became famous for his caustic verses that ridiculed important persons, because of which he risked losing his life more than once. Having taken refuge in Venice, Aretino did not leave his occupation, and those offended by him now and then sent tearful complaints to the lord, demanding that the unsuitable rhymer be punished, and the city men languidly, rather for the sake of form, blamed the satirist. After listening to another complaint, he just chuckled and went to party with his bosom friends - the painter Titian and the architect Sansovino. The poet sincerely fell in love with Serenissima, or the Most Serene, as the inhabitants called their homeland, more than once admitting that he would like not to be separated from her even after death and become at least “a ladle with which they scoop water from a gondola.”

Not everyone, however, was to the liking of the Venetian freemen. The freedom that reigned in the minds greatly disturbed the Inquisition. The wealth of the patrician city grew mainly through the efforts of merchants, and their class paid little attention to who adheres to what religious views, the main thing is not to miss the profit. Meanwhile, guests from all over the world sailed to the republic and brought not only goods, but also various “sinful” knowledge about the world order. In addition, nearby, beyond the Alps, lay lands where the ideas of the Reformation spread like a fire across the dry steppe, and the Catholic Church, represented by the Inquisition, waged a fierce struggle against heresies, which was called the Counter-Reformation.

Shortly after Veronese moved to the Serenissima, the Franciscan Felice Peretti, the future Pope Sixtus V, was sent there as grand inquisitor with specific recommendations on how to strengthen the true faith in this troubled area. Peretti first compiled a list of prohibited printed works and presented it to booksellers. They were taken aback: no one had hitherto tried to tell them what to sell, and the ban was ignored. The inquisitor summoned one of the shrews to himself for suggestion, but he did not appear. Then Peretti excommunicated the recalcitrant from the church and personally came to his shop, hung a notice on the door. The anathematized merchant, being not a timid one, complained about the arbitrariness done to the papal nuncio. The viceroy of the pontiff unexpectedly took his side, ordering his colleague to moderate his ardor and not to worry the Venetians in the future. Enraged, Peretti, in turn, sent a complaint to the Pope. And later he demanded to expel the Spanish ambassador from Venice, declaring the diplomat a heretic. Here the doge was already indignant: the inquisitor does not dare to insult the representative of the Habsburg dynasty! Soon the relationship of the zealous Peretti with the authorities escalated to the limit, and he left the city.

However, the popes did not abandon their attempts to call the Venetians to order and introduce the tribunal of the Inquisition on their land, reminding them that church authority is higher than any other. The townspeople eventually surrendered, but only agreed to a trial involving secular representatives from their Council of Ten, and at the same time insisted that no death sentences be handed down to those who stumble. But still, the Inquisition remained a punishing body, and the mere thought of meeting with this company chilled the blood in the veins of the townspeople. Who knows how things will turn out if you fall into the hands of the monks? ..

Veronese guessed why he had been called. When in 1571 a fire destroyed Titian's "Last Supper" in the refectory of the monastery of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, the brothers asked the illustrious master to paint a new picture. But he, despite his very respectable age (he was over eighty), referred to an urgent order and advised him to turn to Veronese, who was especially distinguished from all Venetian artists.

The work lasted for more than a year, and in April 1573 the members of the monastery were presented with a canvas that was larger than any previously painted by a Veronian. In the center, as expected, he depicted the Savior with the apostles in traditional clothes, and around him, everyone he wanted to see at the table, dressed in the latest fashion, but not a modest chamber, as in the gospel scene, but a luxurious palace.

After the "Last Supper" took its place in the refectory, crowds of curious lay people rushed into the monastery. Rumors, of course, reached the inquisitors. Those, "enjoying" what they saw, ordered the reverend fathers to force the painter to correct inaccuracies. For example, remove the dog sitting at the table and place Mary Magdalene there, washing the feet of the Lord. The abbot conveyed to the artist the will of the tribunal.

But how will Mary Magdalene wash the feet of Christ if he is on the other side of the table? Paolo was surprised.

There are other remarks ... - the monk hesitated. - In the picture, according to the inquisitors, there are a lot of extra people.

Yes, instead of the sacrament, Veronese turned out to be a feast, similar to which he has already written several. And on other canvases, he also allowed himself all sorts of liberties. Take, for example, "The Marriage in Cana of Galilee" on the gospel story about how, having come to the wedding feast, Jesus turned water into wine. On the canvas, in addition to Christ, the Mother of God and the apostles, the artist depicted another hundred extra guests by your own choice. Emperor Charles V is next to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, and the roles of musicians are played by artists - Titian, Tintoretto and Jacopo Bassano. In the foreground of the picture, dressed in snow-white clothes, with a viola and a bow in his hands, is the author himself. The catch is that he gave free rein to his imagination in a work not secular, but ecclesiastical, performed for the monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore.

Veronese liked to depict feasts, resorting to bright colors, as if washed with clean water. The very atmosphere of the rich city-republic was distinguished by festivity. Women here dressed in silk, generously decorated themselves with precious stones and pearls, beloved by the daughters of the sea. Their curls were cast in gold, because every charmer knew how to achieve such an amazing effect: “Take four ounces of centaury,” one of the recipes said, “two ounces of gum arabic and an ounce of hard soap, put it on fire, let it boil and then dye your hair with it on Sun". However, their men were reputed to be no less fashionistas. And what celebrations arranged the Venetians! On special days, buildings and squares were decorated with velvet and brocade, covered with carpets, gondolas were cleaned with rich fabrics. Hundreds of well-dressed people filled the streets, rowing boats down the canals, watching from balconies and windows, and conversations in twelve languages were heard everywhere. One flashes a black satin cloak of a Spanish grandee or a French doublet, then an oriental turban or a fez. A sea of people, a sea of colors. How could someone living in Serene Veronese not love the holiday? And he loved to write noisy, flamboyant collections. The crowdedness of his works came from the fullness of Venetian life. In addition, in the damp climate of the city standing on the water, wall paintings were poorly preserved, so oil painting came in handy here and paintings began to play the role of frescoes.

Huge, densely populated canvases were also created by Paolo's fellow craft, who was ten years older, Jacopo Robusti, nicknamed Tintoretto, that is, a dyer (his father owned this profession). More than once, together with Veronese, they decorated the same buildings, for example, the Doge's Palace. Having entered training with Titian as a teenager, Jacopo quickly left the workshop, but no one really knew why: it was rumored that the master saw a dangerous rival in the young man. However, he did not disappear and quickly enough got into the ranks of the first painters. The paths of Veronese and Tintoretto first crossed when the brotherhood of San Rocco (Saint Roch) was looking for a master who would paint canvases from the life of his heavenly patron. Several applicants, including Veronese, brought sketches, but Tintoretto did not submit sketches - he immediately presented the finished painting, secretly fixing it on the ceiling! Raising their heads, the brothers acknowledged that the future executor of the order had been found.

He painted several dozen canvases, receiving a relatively modest payment for them. But money was not very interested in Jacopo, however, like Veronese, who bought in excess of paint with canvases and even costumes - to dress up the sitters. Both were engaged in painting selflessly, addicted to it and their children. Even the daughter of Tintoretto became an artist, which was a rarity in those days. Marietta, like her brother Domenico, painted beautiful portraits. The Spanish king Philip II and the German emperor Maximilian called the talented girl to work at their courts, but she chose to stay with her father in his workshop.

In general, the artists living in Venice, if they left the Serene Highness, then with a heavy heart: in other parts, they, like a fish thrown ashore, lacked air. Both Titian and Veronese, of course, visited Rome, worked there, admired the beauties the eternal city, but only on the shores of the native lagoon they painted pictures that the senior comrade of Verona compared with poetry.

However, the festive spirit of the city and poetry Venetian painting were not a reason for the inquisitors to mock the Holy Scriptures. The Council of Trent, which took place not so long ago, strongly condemned all kinds of liberties, including the violation of the canons of church art. The artist was only allowed to let his imagination run wild when he was commissioned to decorate, for example, a palazzo or a villa.

By the way, when the brothers Daniele and Marcantonio Barbaro from a noble Venetian family invited Paolo to decorate their country house on the Terraferma, built by Andrea Palladio, Veronese did not even think of embarrassing himself with some kind of framework. The eldest of the brothers, Daniele, was one of the first to see the talent of the painter. Signor Barbaro was generally well versed in art, he wrote poetry himself and translated into Italian the works of the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius. For some time he served as ambassador to England, then the pope elevated him to the rank of cardinal and appointed him to the honorary position of patriarch of Aquileia. Marcantonio also had the gift of a diplomat; he was rector of the University of Padua during the years when Galileo Galilei taught there.

The brothers gave Veronese complete freedom, and the master used the technique of "deception", opening the house outward: he depicted windows to the sky on the vaults, and open doors to the garden on the walls. From the upper balconies, the hosts look at the incoming guests, in the illusory doorway, either a hunter or a girl peering into the hall appears. Thanks to the life-loving artist, the villa turned out to be filled with jokes - the author seemed to be calling on the owners and their guests: let's play and enjoy the fun!

And today he himself is not at all in the mood for fun ... Veronese crossed the threshold of the gloomy room where the clerks were sitting. Usually the suspects were awaiting trial and sentence here, but now the artist saw no one except the secretaries. He cast an anxious glance at the stone lion's mouths, into the holes of which, like mailboxes, citizens of the republic threw complaints and denunciations, including anonymous ones - the law obliged to consider any. Under the very roof were cells where the unfortunate prisoners languished, suffering from unbearable heat in summer and cold in winter.

The secretary called Paolo Cagliari Veronese to the same hall of the Council of Ten, in which the cases of political criminals were dealt with and the Inquisition met. Entering, Veronese raised his head to the ceiling - to the large oval canvases, painted in his youth by himself. On one, Jupiter threw lightning at sinners, or rather at allegorical figures that personified vices. Then he shifted his gaze to the Holy Tribunal. Seated at the table were Inquisitor Aurelio Scellino in a black Dominican cassock, the Patriarch of Venice, a nuncio and a representative of the secular authorities. The inquisitor, after asking a few formal questions, asked:

How many have you depicted in your painting and what are they doing?

I wrote the owner of the house, below - the person who usually cuts the meat: he came to find out if he was needed, and just out of interest.

The inquisitor's eyebrows crept up: this blessed one admits that he drew an incomprehensible person who came to the Last Supper!

There are many more figures there," Veronese continued, "I can't even remember them all...

In the picture, in addition to the characters indicated in the gospel story, there were luxuriously dressed Venetian patricians and servants serving them, on the left on the stairs a man with a napkin in his hand leaned on the railing, apparently he had just left the table. On the right, a black servant whispered something to his patron. Numerous people eating and drinking were animatedly communicating with each other and felt absolutely at ease at the biblical feast, without showing much reverence for the Lord. One of the heroes of the picture, the same owner of the palace, looking like an aristocrat, in an elegant suit, said something, gesticulating, and strangely resembled Veronese himself.

You have too much extra, - said the head of the tribunal. - What kind of person is this, for example, whose nose is bleeding?

Servant, Paolo answered readily. - He bled from some accident.

The three members of the court looked at each other, and the representative of the Council of Ten looked down at his papers with an air of deliberate aloofness.

And what do armed men dressed as Germans mean? The inquisitor's gaze hardened.

The defendant, on the contrary, cheered up:

Here I want to say a few words. You see, we artists have the same privileges as poets and lunatics...

The inquisitors shuddered, and the signor of the Council of Ten bent even lower over the table so that his involuntary smile would not be noticed: this Cagliari is dexterous!

Yes, yes, like poets and madmen, Veronese repeated loudly, even passionately. - I placed men with halberds on the stairs - one of them drinks, but both are ready to do their duty - because it seemed to me that the owner of the house, a noble and rich man, could have such servants. Why not?

And the one dressed as a jester, with a parrot - for what?

For decoration. Such characters are often inserted into paintings.

But who are all these people, - Scellino exclaimed irritably, - whom you portrayed at the Last Supper of the Lord? Do you think they were present?

I know that only Jesus and the apostles were there. However, I had free space left on the canvas, and I decorated it with figures that I invented myself.

The inquisitor gazed in amazement at such innocence: really, these painters are a match for the insane. But then his bewilderment was replaced by suspicion:

Maybe someone asked you to write there Germans, jesters and the like?

No, I was commissioned to have a painting that I could decorate as I saw fit.

Do you know that Germany and other countries are afflicted with heresy, and it is a common thing in them to place various absurdities in pictures in order to mock the shrines of our Catholic Church and thereby teach uneducated people a false faith?

I agree, this is wrong, but I follow the examples given to me by the mentors.

And what did these mentors draw - pictures like yours?

In Rome, in the papal chapel, Michelangelo painted our Lord Jesus Christ, His Mother, Saints John and Peter naked...

The mention of the Last Judgment by Michelangelo Buonarroti in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican puzzled Scellino. After the Council of Trent, the Pope instructed to correct the appearance of the characters in the fresco. The artist soon died, and one of his students was assigned to “dress” the depicted. Is Veronese trying to convince the commission that he's not aware of what's going on?

In Michelangelo's painting there are no clowns, no warriors, no other buffoonery like yours, - continued the inquisitor. - And you still justify your unworthy creation!

It turned out, despite everything Veronese created for the benefit of the churches and in the name of glorifying the republic - to recall at least the canvas that immortalized the significant battle of Lepanto, when the united Christian fleet defeated the Turks - regardless of any merits, his "Last Supper" is now considered a heresy that tramples established canons? What could follow the condemning words of the inquisitor?

Your Eminence, - trying to cope with the excitement, said Veronese, - I did not even think of making excuses, believing that I did everything in the best way. I didn't even know something like this would happen. But I did not place the jester in the room where the Lord sits ...

The judge, obviously realizing that he could not achieve more, declared the interrogation over. The tribunal ruled: Veronese must correct the shortcomings within three months.

Well, he got off pretty lightly, but what did "fix" mean? Remove two-thirds of the shapes by painting them or by cropping the canvas? It is impossible to think of anything more stupid, but the sentence had to be executed, otherwise the tribunal would resort to more severe measures. And Veronese - oh, this cunning Veronese! found a smart way out. He went to the monastery where the picture hung, and announced to the brothers that he was going to make changes to it. The monks were puzzled: it would not be easy to remove the giant canvas from the wall, but Veronese reassured them, assuring them that he could handle it himself. Then he took a brush, dipped it in paint and drew on the cornices and plinths of the balustrade in Latin: on the left - "And Levi made a great treat for Him", on the right - a reference to the corresponding place in the Gospel of Luke. IN Holy Scripture It says, “After this, Jesus went out and saw a publican named Levi sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, Follow me. And he, leaving everything, got up and followed Him. And Levi made a great feast for him in his house; and there were many tax collectors and others who reclined with them.” All the "extra" characters of Veronese could now pass for guests. He just changed the plot - it turned out that with his canvases-festivities it is easy, and "The Last Supper" turned into "Feast in the House of Levi".

Less than ten years later, the painter was again summoned to the Doge's Palace, but now, fortunately, not to the court of the Inquisition. There was a terrible fire in the hall of the Great Council, and the fire destroyed the paintings that adorned it, including the brushes of Veronese. The craftsmen were asked to take part in the new decoration of the premises. His "Triumph of Venice" symbolized the power of the Most Serene, depicted as a blooming woman, who is crowned by an angel. And although the noon of the Serenissima had already passed, on the canvas of the master the republic was still invincible and powerful.

Paolo at that time was no longer young and increasingly took up dramatic themes. Several times he wrote Lamentation for Christ. One of the canvases, executed for the church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo and now located in the Hermitage, is permeated with bright sadness, tenderness and hope. Did the artist think that his art would “run away from decay”?

Veronese died on April 19, 1588 from pneumonia. In the church of San Sebastiano, the same one that he decorated for many years, a modest tombstone points to his resting place. And the famous painting “Feast in the House of Levi” after more than two centuries was taken to Paris by Napoleon. After the fall of Bonaparte, the Venetians returned their masterpiece, and now it is exhibited in the Accademia Gallery.

Visited Venice after another hundred years Mikhail Vrubel so expressed his main impression of the trip: "Artists are only Venetians."

Exhibition “Venice of the Renaissance. Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese. From the collections of Italy and Russia” takes place at the Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin until August 20.

We are in the Accademia Gallery in Venice. Before us is a large-scale canvas by Veronese, one of the greatest Venetian artists of the 16th century. This is the Feast in the House of Levi. But it was not always so. It was originally supposed to be The Last Supper. I think it is, but the name had to be changed. It is hard to guess that this was the Last Supper, because its participants are not easy to find here. Yes, that's right. There are a huge number of figures, the architecture is very majestic and grandiose. So the main event is almost lost here. It seems that Veronese was so carried away by the depiction of all these figures around Christ and the apostles that he almost forgot about the spiritual significance of the Last Supper. There are many figures here who drink, laugh, communicate, serve others, entertain them. When Veronese was once asked about his work, he said: "I draw and place figures." It is noticeable that with great pleasure he placed on the canvas different figures, engaged in completely different things. Even the most significant, most highly spiritual figures are involved in the action here. Look at Christ: he has turned to the figure on his left, and on his right, Peter is separating a piece of lamb to pass it to someone. They behave like ordinary people. The Last Supper here is just dinner in this loggia. Before us is a three-part canvas. It resembles a triptych divided by arches. Between the first and second row of arches we see the Last Supper. But in the foreground are the Venetians of the 16th century. They are dressed like the Venetians of that era. Here the multinational character of the Venetian Republic was manifested. Venice traded with the entire Mediterranean, with the East, with the West, with the North. Therefore, on the right side of the picture we see Germans, Austrians, and on the left - people in turbans. Venice is a crossroads, a vanishing point for the whole world. There is also a feeling of luxury and wealth. In many ways, this is indeed a feast, and not the Last Supper. This is what the Holy Inquisition took care of. Veronese created this painting during the period known to us as the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation. Some people, especially in northern Europe, began to make claims against the church. For example, paintings in temples raised questions. The paintings were supposed to be restrained, decent and not distract the viewer. And so the paintings played an important role in the Counter-Reformation - the movement for the renewal of the Catholic Church, cleansing it of corruption and promoting, strengthening the position of Catholicism. And art was the key. But if the picture has a lot of interesting details, it distracts the viewer, does not allow him to focus on the spiritual component of the plot. Such art was not in the interests of the church. Therefore, the Inquisition summoned the artist to the tribunal and began to ask questions about his rash act. Interestingly, the church that commissioned this painting from Veronese was pleased with his work. But there is no inquisition. They called the artist, began to interrogate him about what the apostles were doing, and then asked: “Who ordered you to depict Germans, jesters, and so on in the picture?” "Who is responsible?" “Who decided that the picture would be so outrageously unrestrained?” Veronese answered interestingly: "We painters use the same liberties that poets use." He was ordered a large canvas, and he decorated it with fictitious figures. Right. He said: "I was allowed to decorate the picture as I pleased, and I decided that many figures would fit there." At first, the Inquisition demanded that several figures be changed, such as this dog, but Veronese refused. Instead, he simply changed the title of the painting. So The Last Supper became The Feast in the House of Levi. It seems that this satisfied both the tribunal and the church, and to some extent even the artist himself, he thus saved his reputation. It seems to me that Leonardo da Vinci sought to remove all unnecessary from his "Last Supper" and focus as much as possible on the highly spiritual, emotional moment when Christ says: "One of you will betray me", and also: "Take this bread, this is my body ", "Take this wine, this is my blood." This is the most important moment in Christianity, the emergence of the sacrament of the Eucharist. And Leonardo highlights it, and Veronese beats it, transfers this scene to our world from the space of timelessness, where Leonardo da Vinci placed it. Right. Some kind of chaos reigns here, people are busy with different things, in a word, this is a real dinner party. That kind of truth is different from Leonardo's, right? Right. Did you notice the cat under the table? Yes. It is wonderful. Probably wants to intercept a piece of meat. The dog is looking at the cat. These details are very vital, and they really detract from the plot. On the other hand, you are right, perhaps the biblical story became more tangible when it was transferred to Venice in the 16th century. Subtitles by the Amara.org community

In the art galleries of the world, you can often see large paintings with many figures written on them. These are "Marriage in Cana of Galilee", "Feast in the House of Levi" and others, under which there is a signature - Paolo Veronese. True, at first glance, these canvases may seem strange. Against the backdrop of beautiful buildings of the Renaissance, in beautiful and rich halls with columns and arches in the style of the 15th-16th centuries, a large elegant society was housed. And everyone in this society, except Christ and Mary, is dressed in luxurious costumes, which were worn in those days (that is, in the 16th century). There are Turkish sultans in his paintings, and hunting dogs, and black dwarfs in bright costumes...

Such was Veronese, who paid little attention to whether his paintings were consistent with history. All he wanted was for everything to be beautiful. And he achieved this, and with it great fame. The Doge's Palace in Venice has many beautiful paintings by Paolo Veronese. Some of them are mythical, others are allegorical, but the artist dressed all the figures in the costumes of his era.

Veronese lived most of his life in Venice. Visiting other cities, he got acquainted with the work of his colleagues, admired their paintings, but did not imitate anyone. Veronese was very fond of painting scenes of various feasts and meetings, in which he depicted all the luxury of the then Venice. This was not an artist-philosopher studying his subject to the smallest detail. It was an artist who was not constrained by any barriers, he is free and magnificent even in his negligence.

Veronese's favorite story was The Last Supper. The artist turned to a topic that was by no means traditional for Venice. If for Florentine artists such themes as "Marriage in Cana of Galilee" and "The Last Supper" were familiar, then the Venetian painters did not turn to them for quite a long time, the plot of the Lord's meals did not attract them until the middle of the 16th century.

The first significant attempt of this kind was made only in the 1540s, when Tintoretto painted his Last Supper for the Venetian church of San Marcuola. But a decade later, the situation suddenly and dramatically changes. The Lord's Meals are becoming one of the most favorite themes of Venetian painters and their customers, churches and monasteries seem to compete with each other, ordering monumental canvases from major masters. For 12-13 years, at least thirteen huge “Feasts” and “Last Supper” are created in Venice (among them the already mentioned “Marriage in Cana of Galilee” by Tintoretto, “Marriage in Cana of Galilee” by Veronese himself for the reflection of the church of San George Maggiore, his own paintings "Christ at Emmaus" and "Christ in the House of Simon the Pharisee", "The Last Supper" by Titian, etc.). Veronese painted his “Last Supper” - the most grandiose of feasts (the height of the painting is 5.5 meters and a width of about 13 meters) in 1573 for the reflection of the monastery of Saints John and Paul to replace Titian’s “Last Supper” that had burned down two years before.

In all the "feasts" of Veronese there is a clear shade of triumph, almost apotheosis. They appear in the festive atmosphere of these paintings, and in their majestic scope, they appear in all the details - whether it is the posture of Christ or the gestures with which the participants in the meals raise the bowls of wine. In this triumph, the Eucharistic symbolism also plays a significant role - a lamb on a platter, bread, wine ...

The painting "The Last Supper" depicted Christ and his disciples at a feast at the publican (tax collector) Levi, and in no other work by Veronese before this architecture had taken such a place as in this picture. The restraint that was on the canvas “Marriage in Cana of Galilee” has also disappeared: here the guests behave noisily and freely, enter into disputes and bickering among themselves, their gestures are too harsh and free.

As the gospel text tells, Levi invited other publicans to his feast, and Veronese writes their greedy, sometimes repulsive physiognomies. Rude warriors, efficient servants, jesters and dwarfs are also located here. Little attractive are other characters that are highlighted by the columns. To the right is a fat cup-bearer with a swollen face, to the left - a major-domo steward. His head thrown back, sweeping gestures, not quite firm gait indicate that he clearly paid a considerable tribute to drinks.

It is not surprising that the Catholic Church saw in such a free interpretation of the gospel text a discrediting of the sacred plot, and Veronese was summoned to the tribunal of the Inquisition. The artist was asked to explain how he dared, while interpreting the sacred plot, to introduce jesters, drunken soldiers, a servant with a bloody nose and "other nonsense" into the picture. Veronese did not feel any particular guilt for himself, he was a good Catholic, he fulfilled all the prescriptions of the church, no one could accuse him of any disrespectful comments about the pope or adherence to the Lutheran heresy. But the members of the tribunal did not eat their bread in vain. No one answered the artist's greeting, no one even wished to express his sympathy with a glance. They sat with cold, indifferent faces, and he had to answer to them. They knew well that it was in their power to torture the artist, rot in the dungeons, and even execute him.

How should he behave? Deny everything or repent? Respond to cunning with cunning or pretend to be a simpleton? Veronese himself understood that in essence he created a picture of the life of Venice - beautiful, decorative, free. Where else, besides Venice, could one see such a three-arched loggia that occupied three-quarters of the picture? And what about the marble palaces and beautiful towers that can be seen in the spans of arches against the blue-blue sky? Let the judges come out to St. Mark's Square, to the sea, where the famous columns with statues of St. Theodore (the ancient patron of Venice) and the lion of St. Mark loom against the background of the shining southern sky. By the way, a lot could be said about how people were executed and tortured for many centuries at these very columns by order of the Council of Ten and without an order. Then they will find out what inspired him when he painted his picture.

Of course, he did not depict contemporaries of biblical characters, giving free rein to his imagination; Of course, the crowd of guests is noisy and excessively cheerful, and therefore terrible questions fall on Veronese: “What do you think, who was present with Christ at the Last Supper?” - “I believe that only the apostles ...” - “Why did you depict in this picture the one who is dressed like a jester, in a wig with a bun?”, “What do these people mean, armed and dressed like Germans, with a halberd in his hand? ”... And Veronese appears in the tribunal as an artist and indeed seems quite carefree in the plot of his paintings, guided only by his imagination and desire for ornamento: “I had an order to decorate the picture according to my understanding, since it is large and can accommodate many figures."

Scientists note that the interpretation of "feasts" as the triumph of Christ had another important meaning for Veronese. In Venice, the veneration of Christ, as well as the cult of Mary and St. Mark, was also associated with political myths and traditions. The transfer of the body of St. Mark in the 9th century to the newly founded city and the announcement of the apostle as the patron of this city equated Venice with another apostolic city - Rome. Many memorable dates in Venice were associated with the cult of Mary - from its founding on the day of the Annunciation to the presentation by Pope Alexander III to the Venetian Doge of a betrothal ring with the sea on the day of the Ascension of Mary. This rite was arranged with unprecedented pomp and splendor. The Doge, the supreme ruler of the Venetian Republic, elected for life and endowed with the dignity of a sovereign prince, rode out in a luxurious galley trimmed with gold and silver, with purple masts, to throw a golden ring into the sea. Jesus Christ was considered the patron of state power in the person of the Doge as the representative and symbol of Seremssima - the Clearest Republic of St. Mark. It is known that in some public celebrations (in particular, in the Easter ritual), the Doge, as it were, embodied Christ and spoke on his behalf.

Thus, the "feasts" of Veronese conceal a whole world of ideas, traditions, ideas and legends - majestic and significant.

And the members of the tribunal of the Inquisition "On the 18th of the day, July 1573, on Saturday decided that Paolo Veronese should correct his picture in the best possible way, removing from it jesters, weapons, dwarfs, a servant with a broken nose - everything that is not in accordance with the true piety." But when Veronese staggered out of the tribune’s meeting, he already knew that under no circumstances would he agree to fulfill these requirements ... And he improved the picture in a very peculiar way: he changed the title, and The Last Supper turned into “Feast in the House of Levi ".

Many, many years ago, at the end of the 16th century, in the city of Venice in the church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Titian's painting "The Last Supper" burned down. It was necessary to either restore it or write a new one on the same biblical story. They commissioned a local artist, Paolo Veronese, to do it. Paolo was a good artist, but, let's say, he was addicted. And so, in the process of work, he became somewhat carried away, including the depiction of details that simply could not be at the Secret Supper of the Savior. Look what he got. Look carefully! Detail!

What you see is somewhat different from the usual and canonical images of the Last Supper - the last meal of Christ with the disciples. If you are surprised, then imagine HOW the high admissions committee was amazed. Incomprehensible characters appeared before her eyes, dressed as elegant Italians of the Renaissance. Around the apostles there was a motley crowd of some nobles, Turks in turbans, wretched dwarfs, soldiers with halberds drinking wine, servants with rich food, outbred dogs, funny jesters and even blacks ... I beg your pardon, Afro-Europeans.

Under the table is a cat playing with a bone. The dog is closely watching the cat. A negro servant points to the dog. But he does not just point his finger, he diverts Judas' attention from how the Apostle Peter butchers the lamb. In general, the feast is a mountain!

You understand that on LAST SUPPER this cheerful Venetian carnival does not pull in any way. It's not just called "Secret"! The Gospel tells how Christ and his disciples gathered quietly and secretly in the house of his supporter Simon, and that evening neither the owner of the house nor his servants were with them. Only the Savior and the apostles - only thirteen people. And the set table was very modest.

The plot of the last meal of Christ with the disciples has countless artistic options, from the most simple and strict, to solemn. But no one has yet written the way Paolo Veronese portrayed it.

I'm just sure that the selection committee asked the artist: " And do you consider this noisy belly feast the LAST Supper?”... In general, the Customer reacted to the author's artistic experiments without proper understanding, and Veronese was invited to the Holy Inquisition for a tribunal. The topic of conversation is the latest trends and trends in fine arts. You will not believe it, but the protocol of the meeting of this tribunal dated July 18, 1573 has come down to our times. I can't resist quoting you some passages from it.

Question from the Inquisitor: - And what does a painted man with a bloody nose mean?

Great response from the artist: “We painters take the same liberties that poets and lunatics take. Therefore, I depicted two armed men at the stairs: one of them is eating and the other is drinking. These are guards, and it seemed to me that the owner of a rich house should have such guards among his servants.

Another question from the Holy Inquisition: -And here is the man with the parrot in the clothes of a jester. Why did you draw him?

Veronese's answer: - To decorate the stage...

From the protocol of interrogation, it becomes clear that Veronese was very at ease with historical accuracy, and simply filled in the empty space on the canvas according to his wild imagination. The gist of his replies was pompous: “But I'm an artist - that's how I see it! And in general, you can’t scold an artist for seeing the world differently!”

Surprisingly, he was not particularly scolded. Well, well, they scolded a little. The inquisitors turned out to be sincere and tolerant people. They delicately explained to the artist that the time of the avant-garde in art had not yet come, and that we had to wait a little more, only three centuries. Amazing! After all, in that era it was possible to end up at the stake for a much smaller offense. The Holy Tribunal made a humane decision: to repaint the picture at its own expense within three months.

Ha! At your own expense! They will come up with the same ... Evil tongues claimed that Veronese depicted the local nobility on his massive canvases. Not free of course. For a little bit. Well, what nobleman didn’t want to leave his portrait to his descendants, and being surrounded by the Savior quite inexpensively? ... And what happens: dwarfs and Afro-Europeans can still be removed from the picture, but what to do with aristocrats in magnificent robes, from whom they have already received money ?...

And here the artist found a brilliant way out! Powerful plot twist! You will never guess what he did! And if you already guessed, then you are also a genius! Paolo Veronese did not alter or redraw anything. He simply took it and gave the picture a different name - "Feast in the House of Levi". There is such a small episode in the Gospel in which Christ was present at the feast of an important rich man named Levi. Interestingly, neither the Customer nor the Holy Inquisition objected to the presence of Turks, dwarfs, dogs, and Germans drinking wine with halberds in Levi's house.

For many years now, a painting called "Feast in the House of Levi" adorns a separate wall in the gallery of the Venice Academy. And our contemporary artist(computer and nameless, moreover), impressed by the work of Veronese, he drew this wonderful collage (they say, this is how it really happened):