Paolo Veronese: A Master and His Workshop in Renaissance Venice

Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla.

Through April 14

Paolo Veronese “had an eye for the telling detail,” said Lennie Bennett in the Tampa Bay Times. Standing before any of his paintings, a viewer can’t help but be amazed by his ability with minor effects—“the shimmer of silk and the nap of velvet; the small, timeless human gestures.” Veronese (1528–88) was, along with contemporaries Titian and Tintoretto, one of the defining artists of Venice’s Golden Age. But if he’s known today mostly as one of Renaissance Italy’s greatest masters of color, this exhibit also reminds us that in some of his lush detailing, he revealed things about his living subjects that they probably didn’t want us to know. Veronese’s 1551 portrait ofFrancesco Franceschini, the son of a wealthy textile merchant, probably satisfied its subject, who appears bedecked regally in furs. But “note how the man’s hand clutches the fur”: Clearly, he’s nouveau riche.

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The Ringling’s survey should dispel an unjust myth, said Karen Wilkin in The Wall Street Journal. Because Veronese favored ornate color and patterning, his work is often disparaged as “merely decorative.” That stigma isn’t easily challenged by an American exhibition, since many of the artist’s most significant works, including his frescoes, cannot be moved from Italy. But the Ringling has temporarily secured enough outstanding works to demonstrate the extent of Veronese’s achievements. In large-scale scenes, he was able to stage complex action “like a master theater director.” In his close-up portrait of a young St. Michael—a highlight of the show’s last gallery—he created “a marvel of loosely painted curls, tender expression, and delectable color.” Yes, it’s decorative, “but only in the sense that it delights the eye.”