VENETIAN PAINTER OF THE XVII CENTURY Banquet in the House of Levi Oil on canvas, 89X200 cm Of parietal dimensions, the canvas reproduces the famous Banquet in the House of Levi painted in 1573 by Paolo Veronese and housed in the Accademia di Venezia (oil on canvas, 555X1280 cm). The characters of style and script suggest its execution in the 17th century and for qualitative aspects it can be ascribed to an artist of good skill, plausibly young and intent on studying the main pictorial examples of lagoon art. It must also be remembered how Veronese's extraordinary inventiveness expressed in this painting aroused the remonstrances of the Inquisition, which urged the artist to modify the passages considered excessively profane: in fact, the representation was originally dedicated to the Last Supper. Called to appear before the Tribunal of the Holy Office, the painter strenuously defended his choices, analysing the presence and arrangement of some figures contested by the religious body. At the end of the dispute, he was forced to amend the name of the work, a choice the painter preferred to the changes requested of him. The new title of the painting became Supper in the House of Levi, which recalls an episode from the Gospel according to Luke in which Matthew, or Levi, prepares a great feast in his own home. Reference bibliography: T. Pignatti, F. Pedrocco, Veronese, Milan 1995, pp. 480-482