Supper in the House of Simon

In 1573 the Inquisition in Venice questioned Paolo Veronese about a huge supper he had painted for a Dominican friary, crowded with servants and onlookers. He changed its title to The Feast in the House of Levi and left the picture as it was.

Less than 20 years later, Scarsellino borrowed a face from that canvas. The host of this supper, Simon the Pharisee, has the features of the Roman emperor Vitellius, just as Veronese's Levi does. Veronese had taken them from an ancient bust in a Venetian collection.

The Gospel moment is on the left, where Mary Magdalene kneels at Christ's feet. Around her Scarsellino fills a household under columns wrapped in carved reliefs, which recall Trajan's Column in Rome. A fire burns in the kitchen behind her, and at the upper right, plates stand in a row along a dresser shelf.