Voices in Time

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This day, Saturday, July 18, summoned by the Holy Office to appear before the Holy Tribunal, Paolo Caliari Veronese, dwelling in the parish of San Samuele, gave his name and Christian name as above when questioned. Questioned as to his calling, he replied, “I paint and make figures.”

Q: Do you know for what reason you were summoned hither?

A: No sirs.

Q: Can you imagine the reason?

A: Indeed, I can.

Q: Say what you suppose.

A: I think it to be as I was told by the reverend fathers, or rather by the prior of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, whose name I do not know, who said to me that he had been hither [to the tribunal of the Inquisition] and that Your Illustrious Lordships had instructed him that he should cause Mary Magdalene to be painted [in Veronese’s picture] instead of a dog. And I answered him, that I would willingly have done this and anything else for my honor and that of the picture, but that I did not feel that such a figure of the Magdalene would have a good appearance there, for many reasons, which I will declare whenever the occasion is given to me.

Q: What is this picture of which you have spoken?

A: It is a picture of the Last Supper, taken by Jesus Christ with his Apostles in the house of Simon.

Q: Where is this picture?

A: In the refectory of the Monastery of SS. Giovanni e Paolo.

Q: Is it painted on the wall, on wood, or on canvas?

A: On canvas.

Q: How many feet is it in height?

A: It may be seventeen feet.

Q: How broad is it?

A: Some thirty-nine feet.

Q: Have you painted Servants at the Lord’s Supper?

A: Yes, sir.

Q: Say how many persons and the actions of each of them.

A: The landlord of the inn, Simon—further, below this figure I put a carver, I supposed come for his own enjoyment to watch how matters were going at the table. There are many figures there which I cannot call to mind, because it is long since I finished that picture.

Q: What is intended by the figure of the man whose nose is bleeding?

A: I intended him for a servant, whose nose has been set bleeding by some mischance.

Q: And what is meant by the armed man, clothed after the German fashion, and with a halberd in his hand?

A: Of that I should need to speak at more length!

Q: Speak.

A: We painters allow ourselves the same liberties as do poets and madmen, and thus I made these two halberdiers—one of them drinking, the other eating—at the foot of the stairway, yet both ready to do their service. For it seemed to me to be fitting that the master of the house, being rich and a great lord—as I have been told—should have such attendants.

Q: And the fellow dressed like a jester, with a parrot perched on his fist—to what end did you portray him?

A: As an ornament, according to custom.

Q: And who are those at the Lord’s table?

A: The twelve Apostles.

Q: What is St. Peter doing, that is, the first of them?

A: He is dividing the lamb to pass it to the other end of the table.

Q: And the other man, beside him?

A: He holds a dish ready to receive what St. Peter will give him.

Q: Tell us what is being done by him that comes next.

A: That one is picking his teeth with a fork.

Q: Who do you believe was really at that Supper?

A: I believe that Christ was there with his Apostles, but if any space remains in the picture, I adorn it with other figures of my own invention.

Q: Did you receive order from anyone to paint Germans, jesters, and the like in this picture?

A: No, sirs. But I received order to adorn the picture as I thought fit, and I saw that it was a large one and could hold many figures.

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