n a shining path, down which a flower-crowned
Love flutters with the diadem and palm of victory. The whole air and
expression of St. George is full of strength and that look of goodness
and serenity which is the painter's nearest approach to religious
feeling. Veronese was created a Chevalier of St. Mark; every one was
asking for his services, but he was a stay-at-home by nature and fond of
living with his family. Philip II. longed to get him to cover his great
walls in the Escurial, but he very civilly declined all his invitations
and sent Federigo Zucchero in his stead.

It was on account of the "Feast in the House of Levi" that in 1573 he
was hauled before the tribunal of the Inquisition, and the document
concerning this was only discovered a few years ago. The Signoria had
never allowed any tribunal to chastise works of literature; on the
contrary, Venice, though comparatively poor herself in geniuses of the
mind, was the refuge of freedom of thought, and, in fact, had made a
sort of compact with Niccolas V., which allowed her to set aside or
suspend the decisions of the Holy Office, from which she could not quite
emancipate herself. Veronese, however, was denounced by some "aggrieved
person," to whom his way of treating sacred subjects seemed an outrage
on religion. The members of the tribunal demanded "who the boy was with
the bleeding nose?" and "why were halberdiers admitted?" Veronese
replied that they were the sort of servants a rich and magnificent host
would have about him. He was then asked why he had introduced the
buffoon with a parrot on his hand. He replied that he really thought
only Christ and His Apostles were present, but that when he had a little
space over, he adorned it with imaginary figures. This defence of the
vast and crowded canvas did not commend itself, and he was asked if he
really thought that at the Last Supper of our Saviour it was fitting to
bring in dwarfs, buffoons, drunken Germans, and other absurdities. Did
he not know that in Germany and other places infested with heresy, they
were in the habit of turning the things of Holy Church into ridicule,
with intent to teach false doctrine to the ignorant? Paolo for his
defence cited the Last Judgment, where Michelangelo had painted every
figure in the nude, but the Inquisitor replied crushingly, that these
were disembodied spirits, who could not be expected to wear clothing.
Could Veronese uphold his picture as decent? The painter was pro