Paolo Veronese, Feast in the House of Levi, 1573

Created not to express the pious scene of the Last Supper, but to emphasize the grandeur of life in Venice, Veronese's Feast in the House of Levi was one of the most controversial paintings of its time. With the setting extremely similar to the Last Supper, critics were appalled at the blasphemous scene. The Inquisition, in full force at the time, accused Veronese of heresy - a capital sin. He did show some remorse and was acquitted of his crimes. Veronese was criticized for not showing enough respect to the sacred subject of his painting, putting fools and midgets at the table with Christ himself.

The piece itself is rich with color and a strong rule of thirds in place. The architecture displayed is grand, with a Giotto-esque sky framed in the background. With color and decorative additions, from pillars to tablecloths and a feast upon the table, Veronese's piece screams opulence, which was directly opposite to the teaching of Jesus. It could also be a veiled criticism at the Church, which was also overly opulent; something being criticized at the time by the entire Reformation movement.

Looking into each area of the scene, one can see how honestly blasé Veronese was about adding sacrilegious characters into his piece. In a seat traditionally reserved for Mary Magdalene is a dog, sitting at a table with the rest of the drunkards - even people dressed as Germans, who the Venetians were not fans of. Putting Jesus in the same scene, let alone sharing a meal with drunks, was terribly disrespectful to strict Catholic views. In order to respect the rules of the Inquisition, and probably save his hide, Veronese changed the title from The Last Supper to Feast in the House of Levi. After the enforcers of the Inquisition accused him of heresy, he promised to remove the dog and the Germans. He never touched the work again, as he doubted Inquisition's power in Venice, which extremely limited at the time. So it was left blasphemous as ever, with a dog just getting some quality time with the drunk Germans.