Paolo Caliari, called Paolo Veronese

John Ringling (d. 1936), Sarasota, FL, and Detlev von Hadeln (d. 1935), Venice and Florence;

By whom sold to Böhler and Steinmeyer, Lucern, Switzerland, October 1928 (this and the above according to Julius Böhler's inventory card 279-28 in the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich);

By whom sold to Charles H. (d. 1956) and Mary F. S. Worcester, Chicago, 1930;

By whom gifted to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1930.

Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, 1 June - 1 November 1933, no. 141;

New York, M. Knoedler and Co., Venetian Paintings of the 15th and 16th Centuries, 11 - 30 April 1938, no. 21;

Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Masterpiece of the Month, August 1938;

Worcester, MA, Worcester Art Museum, The Art of Europe during the XVI–XVII Centuries, 11 April - 16 May 1948, no. 4;

Appleton, WI, Worcester Fine Arts Center, Lawrence College, 1950;

Birmingham, AL, Birmingham Museum of Art; and Montgomery, AL, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Veronese and His Studio in North American Collections, 1 October - 31 December 1972;

Jerusalem, The Israel Museum, Landscape of the Bible: Sacred Scenes in European Master Paintings, 5 September 2000 - 30 January 2001, no. 6.

D. Catton Rich, "An Unpublished Veronese in Chicago," in Pantheon 7 (1931), pp. 20-23, reproduced;

The Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection, Chicago 1932, pp. 7, 175, reproduced (dated circa 1570);

B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Oxford 1932, p. 420;

L. Venturi, Italian Paintings in America, New York 1933, vol. III, reproduced pl. 575 (dated circa 1570);

G. Fiocco, Paolo Veronese, Rome 1934, p. 127;

The Art Institute of Chicago, A Brief Illustrated Guide to the Collections, Chicago 1935, p. 21;

B. Berenson, Pitture Italiane del Rinascimento, Milan 1936, p. 361;

"Robert B. Harshe," in Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 32, no. 4 (1938), p. 48, reproduced;

A.M. Frankfurter, "Venetian Holiday: XV and XVI Centuries in Review," in Art News 36, no. 29 (April 1938), pp. 10, 21, reproduced;

W. Friedlaender, "Venetian Paintings of the XV and XVI Centuries," in Art in America 26 (1938), p. 131;

"The Splendor and Color That Was Old Venice," in Art Digest 12, no. 14 (1938), pp. 5, 28, reproduced;

D. Catton Rich, Catalogue of the Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection of Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings, Chicago 1938, p. 18, cat. no. 13, reproduced pl. XI (dated circa 1570);

R. Shoolman and C.E. Slatkin, The Enjoyment of Art in America, Philadelphia and New York 1942, reproduced pl. 321;

R. Pallucchini, Veronese, Bergamo 1943, p. 125, reproduced;

L. Dame, "Progressive Worcester Museum Celebrates Its Golden Anniversary," in Art Digest 22, no. 15 (1948), pp. 13, 23, reproduced;

F.A. Sweet, "La pittura italiana all’Art Institute di Chicago," in Le vie del mondo: Rivista mensile del Touring Club Italiano 15 (1953), p. 698;

L. Réau, Iconographie de l’Art Chrétien, vol. II, Paris 1956, p. 75;

B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, London 1957, vol. I, p. 130, vol. II reproduced pl. 1094;

L. Vertova, "Some Late Works by Veronese," in Burlington Magazine 102, no. 683 (February 1960), p. 68;

Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection, Chicago 1961, pp. 38, 462, reproduced;

H. Huth, "Italienische Kunstwerke im Art Institute von Chicago, USA," in Miscellanea Bibliothecae Hertzianae, Munich 1961, p. 517;

Art Institute of Chicago, Grand Musées 2, Paris 1968, pp. 25, 67, reproduced;

G. Piovene and R. Marini, L’opera completa del Veronese, Milan 1968, p. 113, cat. no. 159, reproduced (dated after 1570);

J. Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago, New York 1970, p. 256, reproduced;

B.B. Fredericksen and F. Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections, Cambridge 1972, pp. 39, 253, 570;

D. Rosand, in Veronese and his studio in North American Collections, exhibition catalogue, Birmingham 1972, p. 22;

M. and N. Samuels, Seeing with the Mind’s Eye: The History, Techniques and Uses of Visualization, New York 1975, p. 87, reproduced;

T. Pignatti, Veronese, Venice 1976, vol. I, pp. 90, 139, cat. no. 190, and vol. II, reproduced figs. 486-487 (dated 1570 or 1580);

The Art Institute of Chicago: 100 Masterpieces, Chicago 1978, pp. 48-49, cat. no. 12, reproduced in color;

D. von Hadeln, Paolo Veronese, Gunter Schweikhart (ed.), Florence 1978, p. 122, cat. no. 51;

J.D. Morse, Old Master Paintings in North America: Over 3000 Masterpieces by 50 Great Artists, New York 1979, p. 294;

R. Pallucchini, Veronese, Milan 1984, p. 180, cat. no. 153, reproduced (dated to 1575-1580);

T. Pignatti and F. Pedrocco, Veronese: Catalogo completo dei dipinti, Florence 1991, p. 209, cat. no. 132, reproduced (dated to the second half of the 1580s);

C. Lloyd, Italian Paintings before 1600 in The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago 1993, pp. 285-289, reproduced (dated 1570 or 1580);

T. Pignatti and F. Pedrocco, Veronese, vol. II, Milan 1995, pp. 337-339, reproduced;

P. Holberton, in Landscape of the Bible: Sacred Scenes in European Master Paintings, exhibition catalogue, Jerusalem 2000, pp. 58-59, cat. no. 6, reproduced (dated to the late 1570s);

V. Brilliant, Italian, Spanish, and French paintings in the Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota and New York 2017, p. xviii.

Dated by scholars to the latter part of Paolo Veronese's career (between 1570 and 80), this impressive work formed part of the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago for almost a century. Praised for the arcadian spirit of its landscape, "così assoluto e così reale al tempo stesso" ("so idyllic and so real at the same time"),¹ the overall green tonality of this work is contrasted by the vivid blue of the sky and the shimmering crimson and dark blue drapery of the figure of God. This work has been associated by Tersio Pignatti to the artist's Saint Jerome originally painted for Sant'Andrea della Zirada and now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice. Also dated between 1570 and 1580, that work is also notable for its extensive landscape and brilliantly executed drapery.²

In a lush, verdant setting, the artist depicts the creation of Eve. Originally narrated in Genesis, God caused deep sleep to fall upon Adam, depicted here laying across the foreground of the composition. While he slept, God took one of his ribs and used it to create Eve. While this subject is relatively rare in Venetian art, this is not the first instance in which Tintoretto depicts episodes from Genesis. Larger in size and dated to the 1580s, is a work in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, depicting Adam and Eve after their Expulsion from Paradise.³ Similarly to the present work but darker in tone, the verdant landscape plays a significant role in framing the composition. The subject of the creation of Eve was also adopted in a work by Veronese's rival, Jacopo Tintoretto. The painting, which formed part of a painterly cycle dated 1550 to 1553 executed for the Scuola della Trinità, Venice, is lost, but is recorded in a drawing by Paolo Farinati at The Morgan Library & Museum, New York.⁴

A copy of this work is in the collection of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Rome.⁵

¹ Pallucchini 1943, p. 125.

² inv. no. 1807.

³ inv. no. 1514.

⁴ inv. no. 1993.133.

⁵http://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/scheda/opera/46450/Caliari%20Paolo%20%28Veronese%29%2C%20scuola%2C%20Creazione%20di%20Eva