Restored in 1980 with Save Venice general funds.

This altarpiece was created for the chapel of the Giustiniani family in San Francesco della Vigna and is Paolo Veronese’s first known commission in Venice. Its asymmetrical arrangement of the enthroned Virgin and Child, united by their shared mantle, is inspired by Titian’s Pesaro Altarpiece in the Frari, painted a quarter-century earlier. The figure of Joseph adds a further dimension to the group, extending it to become a Holy Family, with the infant Saint John the Baptist completing the upper figural pyramid.

As in Titian’s model, a cycle of glances unites the figures, leading from Saint Catherine up to the Virgin and then down again with the massive Saint Anthony on the right—while the boar, traditional symbol of the sinful temptation over which Anthony triumphed, lies at the feet of Catherine. Joseph’s outward glance establishes a direct connection with the viewer, an invitation to participate in this gathering of holy figures.

The work was restored by conservators Serafino and Ferruccio Volpin, with the guidance of project director Sandro Sponza of the Superintendency of Fine Arts of Venice.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Paolo Veronese (1528–1588)
The Holy Family with Saints Catherine and Anthony Abbot
1551, oil on canvas
313 x 190 cm

Rosand, David. Painting in Sixteenth-Century Venice: Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

—. Véronèse. Paris: Citadelles & Mazenod, 2012.

Salomon, Xavier F. Veronese: Magnificence in Renaissance Venice. London: National Gallery Company, 2014.