This painting is an outstanding example of Veronese’s late work when it had acquired an intensity quite different from the decorative splendour of his early maturity. The subtle harmonies of blues, violets and rose have been replaced by a richness of colour and depth of tone more reminiscent of late Titian and the mature Jacopo Tintoretto.  In the 1580s Veronese repeated the same subject each time using a different composition but retaining a remarkable consistency in the expression of the emotion. In this picture, unusually for Veronese, the artist has arrived at a personal expressionism where the brush strokes take on a life of their own and are visible in their own right, exactly as in the late work of both Tintoretto and Titian. The other main interpretations of this subject are in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg (from SS Giovanni e Paolo, Venice), and a studio replica in the Musée des Beaux-Arts at Lille.

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