Shortly after the decoration of San Sebastiano was completed, Daniele Barbaro, Patriarch of Aquileia and wealthy patrician of Venice, had a splendid residence built him at Masiera by Palladio, a celebrated architect of the period. Being a man of artistic taste, he wished to embellish it with paintings and statues worthy of its imposing architecture. For the sculpture he summoned Alessandro Vittoria; the paintings were entrusted to Paolo Veronese. The patriarch Barbaro was one of his friends, and accordingly allowed him a free hand, and even left the choice of subjects to him. [Illustration: PLATE IV.--THE WEDDING AT CANA (In the Musée du Louvre) This immense composition is the most celebrated work by Veronese. It is considered as one of the masterpieces of all painting. The greater number of the guests at this feast are portraits of illustrious characters of the sixteenth century, and the artist has included himself, along with Tintoretto and Titian, in the group of musicians in the foreground.] Veronese, who was a prodigiously fertile artist, left not a single space in Barbaro's house unoccupied with colour. Wherever space would not permit of large compositions, he painted trophies, garlands, flowers, even statues, possessing all the lustre and relief of marble. Elsewhere he sketched in architectural fantasies, simulating colonnades and porticoes, opening upon landscapes borrowed from the realm of dreams; he conceived imaginary doors, before which fictitious lacqueys appeared to be standing. The principal subjects treated by Veronese at Masiera include _Nobility_, _Honour_, _Magnificence_, _Vice_, _Virtue_, _Flora_, _Pomona_, _Ceres_ and _Bacchus_; then in the ceiling of the cupola he gathered together all the gods of Olympus, grouped around Jupiter. The decorations in the palace at Masiera further augmented Veronese's fame. He was now acknowledged to be the foremost painter of Venice, next to Titian. Barbaro had been so delighted with his talents that he determined to do him a service. Standing well at court, he recommended him to the Signoria. As a result of this, the latter entrusted him with the task of redecorating the halls and chambers of the Doge's Palace, in conjunction with Tintoretto and Orazio Titian. Which of the three artists proved superior it is impossible to decide to-day, because a fire, occurring in 1576, destroyed their paintings along with the palace. But public opinion of that period gave the palm to Veronese. It seems as though this verdict must have been justified, in view of the esteem in which his name was held.