Room 11

Try following the strong diagonal through one of Veronese’s four paintings. Bodies lean and gesture across the canvas, with light arriving from the same direction throughout the group. Their foreshortening suggests they were designed for a ceiling, high above the viewer. The paintings now have titles such as Respect, Scorn and Happy Union, but those names were given later. Their precise meanings remain debated, and there is no settled order in which to read them. You can compare a hand, an exchanged glance or a change of pose without forcing the four scenes into one continuous story. Their original ceiling and patron are still unknown.