Explore the Description of this artwork.
Compositionally, the painting is oriented horizontally. From left to right it is split into two halves. The left half contains mostly dark blue-green sea and the fish within it, with boats and a mountainous shoreline visible in the distance at extreme center-left. The sea is calm. The painting's right half shows the Rimini coastline upon which Saint Anthony and a crowd of bystanders are gathered, with the city and spires of Rimini visible in the distance at extreme center-right. From top to bottom, the painting may be considered split into three parts. The top third is mostly blue sky with white clouds, though the figure of Saint Anthony also extends into this area. The bottom two-thirds depict the sea, shoreline, and crowd of bystanders.
Veronese places Saint Anthony atop a rock, raising him above the bystanders and focusing attention on his figure. The rock is almost triangular in shape, jutting out into space as if it were the prow of a ship, thereby implying Anthony is a helmsman guiding the church or serving as a beacon of faith. Anthony, dressed in light gray-blue robes and holding a bunch of white lilies, points down to the fish but is turned toward and looks at the human listeners with a somewhat serious or even castigating expression. Veronese painted Anthony taller than he should be relative to the bystanders—a perspectival anachronism—in order to increase the saint's monumental bearing. He is further accentuated by his asymmetric positioning relative to the overall canvas. Anthony's orientation toward the listeners appears to be inspired by that of Jesus in Tintoretto's circa 1579–1581 Multiplication of Bread and Fishes at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice.Not including Anthony, there are at least sixteen distinguishable bystanders in the painting, with some dark shapes behind these sixteen figures suggesting an even larger crowd. Of these listeners, only one looks directly at Saint Anthony: this figure, dressed in yellow robes and with his right hand over his heart as a sign of devotion, is thought to be a self-portrait of Veronese. The other figures look either at each other or the fish in amazement. Some of them sit or lean on rock formations. Though the scene is meant to take place in Rimini, some of the figures appear to be non-Italian foreigners, including Turks, Jews, and a Moor. The two Turks in the bottom right corner of the foreground are dressed in striking reddish robes. The rightmost Turk has his back turned to the viewer and his face is not visible. He wears black boots and a yellow turban with a red cockade, addressing his compatriot while gesturing at the fish with his left arm. This figure may have been inspired by a similar one depicted in the bottom center of the 1498 Albrecht Dürer engraving The Whore of Babylon. The leftmost Turk wears a white turban and looks toward the fish incredulously or in amazement.
Like the Turks, the figures thought to be Jews are arguing amongst themselves and pointing to the fish. They are identified as Jews because their headdresses are similar in appearance to ones used in Veronese's later painting Christ among the Doctors, which depicts Jesus in discussion with the rabbis. Other notable figures in Saint Anthony Preaching to the Fish include a white-bearded elderly man visible in between the two red-robed Turks who looks directly at the viewer—as if to pity the common state of sinners—and may be a portrait of Tintoretto; at far right, a restless-looking child tugging at the dress of the bare-chested woman sitting next to him; and to the right of Anthony, a friar also wearing a light blue robe who is half hidden by the rock and lowers his eyes, overwhelmed. Across from the friar to Anthony's left, another three figures are visible near the shoreline: the leftmost figure sits right at the edge of the shore and looks up either at their adjacent bearded companion or Anthony; the middle figure is a bearded man dressed in red and black standing and looking down at the fish; and the last leftmost figure is completely obscured by the rock except for their footwear and the hem of their yellowish robe.
Rimini Jesus lilies cockade self-portrait Turks anachronism Jesus in discussion with the rabbis Tintoretto Moor prow perspectival Scuola Grande di San Rocco hem turban spire helmsman Jews Christ among the Doctors friar asymmetric left engraving Albrecht Dürer