The best of the 111 paintings shown in this series, to mark the half millennium which has elapsed since his birth.
history of painting
His 8 Last Suppers from 1547 to around 1593 compared with contemporary versions by Titian, the Bassanos, and Veronese. A true feast.
In his final decade, he designed the vast ‘Paradise’ for the Doge’s Palace, and several great paintings, but probably painted relatively little himself.
Scenes from the early life of Christ, carefully referenced to those of the Passion to come, the Virgin Mary, and two other saintly Marys. His last major series.
A prolific period in which he painted the life of Christ for the Scuola di San Rocco, the Gonzaga Cycle, and a smaller series of Venetian histories.
Danaë, raped by Jupiter in the form of a shower of gold; Lucretia, whose rape resulted in the Republic of Rome; Leda, raped by Jupiter in the form of a swan. And a portrait of a Venetian senator.
Six mythological works, which culminate in what is probably his finest of all: the Origin of the Milky Way, analysed in detail here.
Major works for the ceiling of the Sala superiore in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, centred on ‘The Brazen Serpent’, ‘Moses Striking the Rock’, and ‘Gathering of the Manna’.
Two more informal Last Suppers, a votive of the Doge who ruled Venice at the time, and the perils of black grounds.
He completes his work for the Albergo at San Rocco with three scenes from the Passion, and paints a votive showing the Madonna and Child with three contemporary fiscal administrators in Venice.
