Madonna with child

This is Veronese near the very start, before Venice made him famous. He was born Paolo Caliari in Verona, and the name Veronese we still use for him simply means the man from Verona. Painted in 1548, when he was about 20, this Madonna and Child is among his earliest surviving works, made in his home city while he was still learning the trade under local masters. Within a few years he would leave for Venice and fill enormous canvases with silk, marble and crowds of figures. Only a handful of his works stayed behind in Verona. This is one of the pieces that mark where he began, still close to the quieter altar paintings of the men who taught him.