Baptism and Temptation of Christ

The Venetian church this was painted for no longer exists. San Nicolò della Lattuga, standing beside the Frari, was rebuilt and reconsecrated in 1582, and Veronese, by then in his fifties, supplied it with 11 canvases. The community was suppressed under Napoleonic rule and the church was pulled down in 1806. Seven of those canvases are in the Accademia in Venice today. This one, more than four metres wide, went to Milan.

It carries two Gospel episodes that are rarely put in the same frame. On the left John baptises Christ in the Jordan and angels gather overhead. On the right, in the same open country, the devil offers him the kingdoms of the world. Most of the surface is landscape, brushed in fast, the light thinning out towards Jerusalem in the distance.