In the present article, the author discusses a famous topic: the interrogation of Paolo Veronese by the tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Venice on July 18, 1573. Notwithstanding publications by such outstanding art historians as Philipp Fehl, Michelangelo Muraro, André Chastel and Paul Kaplan, our knowledge of the context in which this interrogation should be situated, is still rather rudimentary.
This article develops an argument that leads to an explanation of why Veronese had to appear before the Inquisition, focusing on two protagonists of the tribunal: the inquisitor and the nuncio. The author comes to the conclusion that the dynamics in the proceedings had very little to do with Veronese but everything with internal ecclesiastical politics, which goes a long way to explain why Tintoretto, who ran into trouble because of his paintings only weeks after the interrogation of Veronese, did not have to appear before the Inquisition.