Paolo Veronese, 'The Consecration of Saint Nicholas', 1562

The Consecration of Saint Nicholas

Paolo Veronese

Room 9

About the work

Overview

Saint Nicholas lived in the fourth century and was a bishop of Myra, on the southern coast of modern Turkey. His relics were taken from Myra to Bari in Italy in 1087 and remain there today, which is why he is known as Saint Nicholas of Bari. He is the model of our ‘Santa Claus’ because of a legend that he secretly made a gift of dowries to three impoverished young women.

Veronese’s painting shows Nicholas’s consecration as a bishop. On the eve of the election of a new bishop at Myra, a voice revealed that a pious youth called Nicholas had been divinely chosen and would be the first to appear at the cathedral door in the morning. Veronese depicts the entrance of the cathedral, where the senior bishop consecrates Nicholas, who kneels flanked by two older priests in white surplices. An angel descends with a bishop’s mitre (hat), stole (scarf-like vestment) and crosier (staff), showing that Nicholas has been chosen by God.

In-depth

Veronese’s painting shows Nicholas’s consecration as bishop, as told in the Golden Legend. On the eve of the election of a new bishop at Myra, a voice revealed that a pious youth called Nicholas had been divinely chosen and would be the first to appear at the cathedral door in the morning.

Veronese depicts the entrance of the cathedral, where the senior bishop consecrates Nicholas, who kneels wearing a robe of emerald green, flanked by two older priests in white surplices. An angel descends with a bishop’s mitre (hat), stole (scarf-like vestment) and crosier (staff), proving that Nicholas has been chosen by God. The turbans worn by two of the witnesses show the story is taking place in Asia Minor. The consecration of Saint Nicholas is included in cycles of paintings of his life, but this is the only known independent painting of the subject. It seems to have been chosen to illustrate the importance of the call to the priesthood, and of God’s authority vested in a bishop.

Saint Nicholas kneels at the lowest point of the deep ‘V’ shape formed by the figures. The brilliant green of his robe is included elsewhere, creating a pattern of colour which, with the repeated rich pink, blue and white, draws our eye around the composition. Tiny dots and brushtrokes of white and yellow suggest the striped gold fabric covering the shoulders of the senior bishop. Streaks of white and grey define the folds and form of the foremost priest’s brightly lit white robe. Veronese paints just enough detail and then allows our eyes to do the rest.

Giorgio Vasari, the sixteenth-century artists‘ biographer, highly praised this painting in his Lives of the Artists. It was painted for the abbey church of S. Benedetto Po, just south of Mantua, following its reconstruction under the direction of Giulio Romano. Veronese was commissioned on 27 December 1561 to paint three altarpieces with subjects from the lives of Saint Nicholas, Saint Anthony Abbot and Saint Jerome. A transcription of a lost document recording the commission says they were to be painted in the best available colours and specifies the payment the artist was to receive.

Veronese received final payment for the altarpieces on 30 March 1562, so he either started before the commission was formally recorded or he worked at incredible speed, the three paintings only taking him three months. The original architectural frames, which may have been designed by Giulio Romano, are lost.

The altarpiece of Saint Nicholas was taken from the abbey church and sold on the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte, when the French general took Mantua in 1797. It was purchased in 1811 by the governors of the ’British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom‘. It was the first old master painting to be acquired by them, and they intended it to adorn a ’future National Gallery'.

Want to find out more?

Delve deeper and explore the catalogue entry for this painting.

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Consecration of Saint Nicholas
Artist: Paolo Veronese
Artist dates: 1528 - 1588
Date made: 1562
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 286.5 × 175.3 cm
Acquisition credit: Presented by the Governors of the British Institution, 1826
Inventory number: NG26
Location: Room 9
Collection: Main Collection
Frame: 16th-century Italian Frame

Provenance

Abbey church of S. Benedetto Po until about 1790, and then the pinacoteca of the abbey, whence removed about 1797. By 1810 with Alexis Delahante. Sold by him in 1811 to the British Institution, by whom presented to the National Gallery in June 1826.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Nicholas Penny, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings’, vol. 2, ‘Venice 1540–1600’, London 2008; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2014

Veronese: Magnificence in Renaissance Venice

The National Gallery (London)

19 March 2014 - 15 June 2014
2022

Virtual Veronese: A virtual reality experience

The National Gallery (London)

7 March 2022 - 18 April 2022

Bibliography

1584

R. Borghini, Il riposo di Raffaello Borghini, Florence 1584
1763

G. Cadioli, Descrizione delle pitture, sculture, ed architetture che si osservano nella città di Mantova e ne' suoi contorni, Mantua 1763
1834

J. Landseer, A Descriptive, Explanatory, and Critical Catalogue of Fifty of the Earliest Pictures Contained in the National Gallery of Great Britain, London 1834
1838

G.F. Waagen, Works of Art and Artists in England, trans. H. Lloyd, vol. 2, London 1838
1854

G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
1878

G. Vasari, Le vite de'più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori: Con nuove annotazioni e commenti di Gaetano Milanesi, ed. G. Milanesi, 8 vols, Florence 1878
1888

P. Caliari, Paolo Veronese, sua vita e sue opere, Rome 1888
1890

G. Cignaroli, Di Giambettino Cignaroli, pittore veronese, notizie e documenti, ed. G. Biadego, Venice 1890
1891

D. Zannandreis, Le vite dei pittori, scultori e architetti veronesi, ed. G. Biadego, Verona 1891
1901

A. Venturi, Storia dell'arte italiana, 11 vols, Milan 1901
1911

G. Ludwig, Archivalische Beiträge zur Geschichte der venezianischen Kunst, eds W. Bode and G. Gronau, Italienische Forschungen herausgegeben vom Kunsthistorischen Institut in Florenz 4, Florence 1911
1924

W.G. Constable, 'The Foundation of the National Gallery', The Burlington Magazine, XLIV/253, 1924, pp. 158-72
1927

P.H. Osmond, Paolo Veronese: His Career and Work, London 1927
1928

G. Fiocco, Paolo Veronese, 1528-1588, Bologna 1928
1934

G. Fiocco, Paolo Veronese, Rome 1934
1950

L. Venturi, 'Un'opera inedita di Paolo Veronese', Commentari, I, 1950, pp. 39-40
1956

B. Suida Manning et al., Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler (exh. cat. Portland Art Museum, 1956; Birmingham Museum, 1957), Portland 1956
1958

B. Berenson, Pitture italiane del Rinascimento: La scuola veneta, Florence 1958
1959

Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Venetian School, London 1959
1968

G. Piovene and R. Marini, L'opera completa del Veronese, Milan 1968
1976

T. Pignatti, Veronese: L'opera completa, Venice 1976
1987

Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1987
1990

J. Thornton, 'Paolo Veronese and the Choice of Colors for a Painting', in M. Gemin (ed.), Nuovi Studi su Paolo Veronese, Venice 1990, pp. 149-65
1995

N. Penny and M. Spring, 'Veronese's Paintings in the National Gallery, Technique and Materials: Part I', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XVI, 1995, pp. 4-29
1996

P. Humfrey, 'Altarpieces and Altar Dedications in Counter-Reformation Venice and the Veneto', Renaissance Studies, X/3, 1996, pp. 371-87
1997

B.L. Brown, 'Veronese and the Church Triumphant: The Altarpieces for San Benedetto Po', Artibus et historiae, XVIII, 1997, pp. 51-64
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2001

R. Cocke, Paolo Veronese: Piety and Display in an Age of Religious Reform, Aldershot 2001
2004

D. Gisolfi, 'Paolo Veronese e i Benedettini della congregazione cassinese: Un caso di committenza nel cinquecento', Arte veneta, LXI, 2004, pp. 206-11
2008

Penny, Nicholas, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, 2, Venice, 1540-1600, London 2008

Frame

This is a Northern Italian cassetta frame dating from the late sixteenth century. Crafted from poplar wood and water-gilt, it features a cushioned frieze adorned with a carved chained cabochon with flower heads. The design includes oval-shaped flower heads alternating with round flower heads. Towards the sight edge, there are imbricated (overlapping) laurel leaves with centred crossbands.

During restoration in the 1960s, the frame was regilded and a new moulding was added at the sight edge, along with decorative spandrels.

When Giulio Romano remodelled and enlarged the church in S. Benetto Po, Mantua, Italy, in 1539, it is likely that he also designed the frame for Veronese’s The Consecration of Saint Nicholas, which remained in the same church until the 1820s. Upon acquisition by the National Gallery, the painting was initially exhibited in a gilt neoclassical composition frame. However, in 1962, after the painting had undergone treatment, it was reframed with the current frame.

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images

More works by Paolo Veronese

(Showing 6 of 10 works)

Happy Union

Paolo Veronese

This is one of a series of four paintings by Veronese that concern the trials and rewards of love, although their precise meanings remain unclear. The compositions are designed to be seen from below, so we know the pictures were intended for a ceiling or a series of ceilings.A couple are united a...

Room 9

Portrait of a Gentleman of the Soranzo Family

Paolo Veronese

Dressed in a sumptuous black velvet doublet and satin robe trimmed with ermine, the man in this portrait looks out to his right with a steady, impassive gaze. Seated in front of an architectural column against a backdrop of shimmering green drapery, the full-length format of this portrait conveys...

Central Hall

Respect

Paolo Veronese

This is one of a series of four paintings by Veronese that concern the trials and rewards of love, although their precise meanings remain unclear. The compositions are designed to be seen from below, so we know the pictures were intended for a series of ceilings.Cupid drags a man in military cost...

Room 9

Scorn

Paolo Veronese

Given the title Scorn in 1727, this is one of a series of four paintings by Veronese that concern the trials and rewards of love, although their precise meanings remain unclear. The compositions are designed to be seen from below, so we know the pictures were intended for a ceiling or a series of...

Room 9

The Adoration of the Kings

Paolo Veronese

The Three Kings have come to visit the infant Christ in the stable where he was born. They bring gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, and have journeyed from the East (Matthew 2: 10–12). The stable at Bethlehem is attached to the ruins of a great classical building with a triumphal arch in the...

Room 9

The Conversion of Mary Magdalene

Paolo Veronese

This is one of Veronese’s earliest works, painted when he was about 18, probably for a noble patron in Verona. The lighting from the right suggests that it was made for a specific location, perhaps the side wall of a chapel.The painting’s subject has been the matter of much debate but it is now b...

Not on display

The Dream of Saint Helena

Paolo Veronese

Helen or Helena was mother of the first Christian emperor, Constantine. She dreamed that an angel revealed to her the location of the cross on which Christ was crucified and urged her to travel to the Holy Land to find it. She dug up three crosses and, by testing their healing power, was able to...

Room 9

The Family of Darius before Alexander

Paolo Veronese

Alexander the Great, the Macedonian emperor, visits the distraught family of King Darius III of Persia, who he has defeated in battle. Darius’s mother Sisigambis mistakes Alexander’s friend Hephaestion, who wears plate armour and an orange cloak, for the victor. Alexander comforts Sisigambis, who...

Room 9

The Rape of Europa

Paolo Veronese

In Roman mythology, the princess Europa was abducted from the coast of Tyre by the god Jupiter, who had transformed himself into a bull. We see her mounting the beast in the foreground and being carried away towards the sea at the lower left. Baby cupids throw fruit from the trees while the amoro...

Not on display

Unfaithfulness

Paolo Veronese

Room 9

You've viewed 6 of 10 works

Paolo Veronese, 'The Consecration of Saint Nicholas', 1562

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Exhibition history

Bibliography

Frame

About this record

Images

More works by Paolo Veronese