The Pontiff and a group of priests are above the child at the top of the steps. She raises her hand towards them. Below are her father and mother, and near the steps the famous old countrywoman, with her basket of eggs. There are also men and women of quite another class, dressed in long garments, who make a sort of passing procession. It is as if one were in the midst of a city where people of various classes are occupied with their personal affairs,--a city in the midst of a noble landscape, which is glowing with sunlight,--a city, too, on which its people have bestowed the riches of art, and {362} everything that money can produce to make life luxurious and attractive. It is no wonder that Titian lived without a rival; that his works were sought by emperors and kings, and that in his power of portraiture he has not been surpassed. "The Supper in the House of Levi" was painted by Paul Veronese for the Refectory of SS. Giovanni and Paolo, in 1572; and a year later the artist was summoned before the Sacred Tribunal to answer to the charge of irreverence, based upon his having painted "dwarfs, buffoons, drunkards, Germans, and similar indecencies" at supper with Our Lord. Veronese defended himself on the ground that Michael Angelo, "in the Papal Chapel at Rome, painted Our Lord Jesus Christ, His Mother, Saint John, and Saint Peter, and all the court of heaven, from the Virgin Mary downwards, naked, and in various attitudes, with little reverence." Veronese was dismissed with a command to correct his picture within three months; but more than three hundred years have passed, and it remains untouched. The suppers of Christ and his disciples and friends were so often painted by Veronese, that he could scarcely vary them very much. That in the house of Levi is subject to criticism on account of the prominence given to the architecture, which is of too florid a type to please a severe taste, although it may correspond with the disorder and movement of the peculiar figures of the composition to which the Sacred Tribunal objected. Rich in masterpieces as the Ducal Palace and the Academy are, one must still go elsewhere for some of the grandest works of the Venetian school. For example, the Santa Barbara of Palma Vecchio is in the Church of S. Maria Formosa, which I always remember was built in 1492, that important year in which our part of the world may be said to have been born. This church is very near {363} the Piazza; and the walk from the Academy, where one so often is, after crossing the bridge, leads through a maze of _calli_ in the very heart of the city. Santa Barbara was the patroness of soldiers, and this picture was painted for the Bombardieri. She makes the centre of an altarpiece, having two male saints on each side, and a Pietà above. The whole work is excellent, and were the central figure not seen, the Virgin above would attract much attention; but the Saint Barbara fills the place.