The Dead Christ Supported by Angels

Paolo Caliari, called Veronese because he was born in Verona, was famous for his large, crowded, and colorful paintings, which decorated the palaces and churches of Venice. Veronese focused here, however, on the harsh physical reality of death.  Cold light intensifies the pallor of Christ's skin, poignantly contrasted with the warm, rosy hand of the angel who clasps his wrist.  The intimate scale and meditative mood of this somber devotional image occur only in the artist's late work.