The Veronese exhibition at London’s National Gallery brings together the most comprehensive collection of the artist’s masterpieces – both sacred and profane – ever to be shown in Britain In 1573, the painter Paolo Caliari was hauled before a tribunal in Venice to answer questions about a picture of The Last Supper which, in the Inquisition’s opinion, risked bringing derision on the Catholic Church. The main bone of contention was the appearance in the centre foreground of a dog, which the tribunal demanded be removed and replaced with a figure of Mary Magdalene; they also objected to the presence of two halberdiers in German dress and a jester with a parrot. The painter, after pointing out politely that he had half a dozen Last Suppers under his belt, expla