Historic Veronese show opens in London

A major exhibition of Renaissance master Veronese opens at London's National Gallery on Wednesday, bringing together for the first time in centuries around 50 works from the world-revered painter. It is Britain's largest ever exhibition devoted to the artist, and is expected to enjoy similar success to the gallery's blockbuster Leonardo da Vinci show in 2011. The works, which largely comprise dramatic religious scenes and portraits of high-society gentlemen, have been brought in from France, Spain, Italy and Spain and will be on show until July 14. The gallery promises an insight into the "magnificence in Renaissance Venice" as documented by one of its greatest ambassadors. "We've reunited paintings that used to be together, but that haven't been together for 300-400 years, and that have probably never been seen together since they were first painted in Veronese's studio," explained curator Xavier Salomon. Paolo Caliari was born in Verona in 1528, and later took on the name of his birthplace. Although not the most famous painter of the Italian Renaissance, he is, according to Salomon, "the most representative painter of Renaissance Venice." "He shows all the opulence and grandeur of that society, of how people would have liked to appear in front of the world, how they dressed and how they went about in their life," he explained.