In spite of his keen desire to pay a visit to Rome, Veronese was kept
in Venice by his ceaseless productivity, and he attained the age of
forty without ever having had the chance of a sight of the Eternal
City. Of all the masterpieces in that home of the Pontiffs, he knew
nothing, excepting of such as he had seen copied in the form of
engravings. The appointment of his friend and patron as ambassador to
the Holy See, afforded him an opportunity to make the journey so many
times projected and deferred.
No documents exist regarding Veronese's sojourn in Rome, but at all
events it was fairly brief. Beyond this, we are reduced to mere
conjecture. Furthermore, there is no extant evidence to sustain
the idea that he practised his art in the Eternal City. If he had
painted any pictures there, some trace of them would surely have
been discovered. It must therefore be concluded that he contented
himself with admiring the masterpieces with which his illustrious
predecessors, Raphael and Michelangelo, had enriched the capital of
the Pontiffs.
But his temperament was too peculiar, his manner too individual, and
we may as well acknowledge, his nature too superficial, to permit of
his experiencing those profound and overwhelming impressions that
radically modify an artistic career.
And for this we ought rather to be thankful than to complain, since it
was only his obstinate insistence upon remaining himself that saved
Veronese from shipwreck upon the ever threatening reef of imitation.