Oil on canvas, with a moulded top, 396cm by 201cm.
This altarpiece was formerly in the Church of St Jacopo on the Venetian island of Murano, where it formed part of a triptych.
The other sections, the ‘Visitation’ and the ‘Resurrection’ are now in the Barber Institute, Birmingham, and the Royal Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, respectively.
It was acquired in 1769 by Brownlow, 9th Earl of Exeter (1725-1793), whilst on his second Grand Tour.
Paolo Veronese was one of the greatest artists of 16th Century Venice, known especially for his enormous history paintings, chiefly of religious and mythological subjects.
