Venice, 1577. The Great Council Chamber in the Doge's Palace, the seat of the Republic, has just gone up in smoke from a chimney fire, along with all its decoration! A competition was held to choose the painter responsible for recreating the immense vision of Paradise that decorated the room. Veronese and Francesco Basano were selected, but the former's untimely death brought a halt to the project. A second competition chose Tintoretto, one of the greatest painters of the time, to create "Paradise", which remains in place to this day.
This work consists of a series of concentric semicircles which feature a crowd of the chosen, those individuals selected to enter Paradise. In the foreground, a semicircle placed in reverse forms the base of a pyramid, which entices us to move towards the back of the composition.
Within an orange halo, indicating a divine presence, we can make out two standing figures and a third kneeling in front of them, seen in profile. These are God and Jesus Christ, jointly holding a crown they’re about to place on the head of the Virgin Mary.
The brushstrokes are quick and imprecise, since this painting is only a sketch! This was in fact Veronese's first project for the decoration of the Great Council Chamber. A project that would never be completed, since it was Tintoretto who was chosen to create this vision of Paradise!
Detail : The sketch serves above all to visualise the masses of the composition, its organisation and to position the characters who fill it, which explains the absence of any precise details.
Venice, 1577. The Great Council Chamber in the Doge's Palace, the seat of the Republic, has just gone up in smoke from a chimney fire, along with all its decoration! A competition was held to choose the painter responsible for recreating the immense vision of Paradise that decorated the room. Veronese and Francesco Basano were selected, but the former's untimely death brought a halt to the project. A second competition chose Tintoretto, one of the greatest painters of the time, to create "Paradise", which remains in place to this day.
This work consists of a series of concentric semicircles which feature a crowd of the chosen, those individuals selected to enter Paradise. In the foreground, a semicircle placed in reverse forms the base of a pyramid, which entices us to move towards the back of the composition.
Within an orange halo, indicating a divine presence, we can make out two standing figures and a third kneeling in front of them, seen in profile. These are God and Jesus Christ, jointly holding a crown they’re about to place on the head of the Virgin Mary.
The brushstrokes are quick and imprecise, since this painting is only a sketch! This was in fact Veronese's first project for the decoration of the Great Council Chamber. A project that would never be completed, since it was Tintoretto who was chosen to create this vision of Paradise!
Detail : The sketch serves above all to visualise the masses of the composition, its organisation and to position the characters who fill it, which explains the absence of any precise details.
