Image Details

Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.

A parrot-carrying jester (shown here, compare with photo of “The Feast in the House of Levi”) and a diminutive woman (see photo of diminutive woman) appear at the top of the stairs. The inscriptions on the balustrades behind them were added at two separate times. The date April 20, 1573, which runs along the bottom, commemorates when Veronese first finished his work. The phrase FECIT D. COVI. MAGNV. LEVI (a Latin abbreviation for “Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house”) and the biblical citation LUCAE CAP. V. (Luke 5) were added after the artist’s trial.