Episode 30 - A Subject of Controversy
Part 1: The Consecration
Paolo Veronese, The Consecration of Saint Nicholas, 1562
Oil on canvas, 9 ft 5 in x 5 ft 9 in (286.5 × 175.3 cm)
National Gallery, London
Peter Paul Rubens, The Judgement of Paris, 1632-5
Oil on wood (probably oak), 57 x 76 ¼ in (144.8 × 193.7 cm)
National Gallery, London
Aelbert Cuyp, A Hilly River Landscape with a Horseman talking to a Shepherdess, c 1655-60
Oil on canvas, 53 ¼ x 79 ¼ in (135 × 201.5 cm)
National Gallery, London
Titian, Bacchus and Ariadne, 1520-23
Oil on canvas, 69 ½ x 75 ¼ in (176.5 × 191 cm)
National Gallery, London
Guido Reni, Lot and his Daughters leaving Sodom, c 1614-15
Oil on canvas, 43 ¾ x 58 ¾ in (111.2 × 149.2 cm)
National Gallery, London
Guido Reni, Susannah and the Elders, c 1622-3
Oil on canvas, 46 x 59 ¼ in (116.6 × 150.5 cm)
National Gallery, London
Diego Velázquez, Philip IV hunting Wild Boar (La Tela Real), 1632-7
Oil on canvas, 71 ½ x 119 in (182 × 302 cm)
National Gallery, London
Peter Paul Rubens, Minerva protects Pax from Mars ('Peace and War'), 1629-39
Oil on canvas, 80 x 117 ¼ in (203.5 × 298 cm)
National Gallery, London
Frederick Mackenzie, Principal Original Room of the National Gallery, 1834
Watercolour
V&A Picture Library
Abbey of San Benedetto in Polirone
San Benedetto Po, Province of Mantua, Lombardy, Italy
Paolo Veronese, The Virgin and Child with Angels Appearing to Saints Anthony Abbot and Paul, the Hermit, 1562
Oil on canvas, 112 × 66 1/2 in. (284.5 × 168.9 cm)
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia
Copy after Veronese, Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, c. 1792
Oil on canvas, 112 1/4 x 67 in (285 × 170 cm)
Abbey church of S. Benedetto Po.
© Photo: Carlo Perini, S. Benedetto Po
Paolo Veronese, The Consecration of Saint Nicholas, 1562
Oil on canvas, 9 ft 5 in x 5 ft 9 in (286.5 × 175.3 cm)
National Gallery, London
Vertical seam through hand
Herringbone weave texture
Cross section from priest's blue robe
From Nicholas Penny and Marika Spring, "Veronese's Paintings in the National Gallery, Technique and Materials: Part I," National Gallery Technical Bulletin Vol 16, pp 4–29.
Painted and gilded wooden frame over the altar in the Oratorio di Santa Maria, c. 1550, in the abbey church of S. Benedetto Po and a detail of that frame. The original frame of the Consecration would have been similar.
© Photo: Carlo Perini, S. Benedetto Po.
Reproduced in Nicholas Penny, The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume II: Venice 1540–1600 (London: National Gallery Company and Yale University Press, 2008).
Abbey of San Benedetto in Polirone
Ceiling and frescoes of Chapel of Saint Nicholas
Still from Virtual Veronese, A virtual reality experience, National Gallery, London, 7 March – 18 April 2022
The creators chose to show the shape of the extant original canvas.
Baroque altar and altarpiece frame in the chapel of St Nicholas in the south aisle of the abbey church of S. Benedetto Po. The frame in which The Consecration of Saint Nicholas would have been displayed between about 1725 and 1790
© Photo: Carlo Perini, S. Benedetto Po
Reproduced in Nicholas Penny, The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume II: Venice 1540–1600 (London: National Gallery Company and Yale University Press, 2008).
Shapes of the later upper corner additions mimic the shape of the baroque frame.
The non-original upper corners of the painting. Note the color and textural differences between the original paint and the additions.
Recommended Reading
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Sheldon Keck, “Some Picture Cleaning Controversies: Past and Present,” Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, Spring, 1984, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Spring, 1984), pp. 73-87
Nicholas Penny and Marika Spring, 'Veronese's Paintings in the National Gallery, Technique and Materials: Part I'. National Gallery Technical Bulletin Vol 16, pp 4–29.
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/technical-bulletin/penny_spring1995
Nicholas Penny, The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume II: Venice 1540–1600 (London: National Gallery Company and Yale University Press, 2008).
Verax (J. Morris Moore,) The Abuses of the National Gallery, 1847
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_abuses_of_the_National_gallery_by_Ve.html?id=iA4HAAAAQAAJ
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