Focus on The Feast in the House of Levi and explain the Historical context.
In the year of 1573, roughly three months after Veronese had finished this piece, the Holy Tribunal summoned the artist on the account of his painting to answer questions about  elements deemed inappropriate for a depiction of the Last Supper. The Holy Tribunal of Venice was made up of six members. The leader of the Tribunal, responsible for leading the interrogation of the artist, was called the inquisitor. The objectives of the Tribunal were to uphold a sense of equilibrium between Venice and Rome on religious, and political levels. There was harmony within the Holy Tribunal as a result of the Republic of Venice and the Vatican being united in their Christian ideals against anything that went against Catholic orthodoxy. Although in Venice the Holy Tribunal generally did not give harsh sentences, they did have the power to invoke death sentences. Since the Tribunal had such authority, an interrogation by them was seen as an event to take seriously. One theory as to why Veronese was interrogated by the Tribunal is that the inquisitor wanted to show he was capable of this job. This was necessary because there had been a newly appointed nuncio who worked directly with the Pope in Rome. According to this theory, it could be assumed that the interrogation was a result of the events surrounding members of the Holy Tribunal itself. In other words, this interrogation was, perhaps, not truly about Veronese, this artwork, or its iconography in the first place.In the Renaissance, it was uncommon for patrons to give any specifications in regards to how a story or scene was portrayed by the artist. There is evidence that compositions were often left solely up to the artist, as was stated in a painting treatise created in 1435 by Leon Battista Alberti. This led to a situation where the artist alone would be judged for their choices. Given that it was common practice for the artist to create their own composition with only a subject matter to guide them from the patron, the Holy Tribunal, unsurprisingly, put the artist Veronese on trial, and not the patron. During the interrogation, Veronese was asked to explain why the painting contained "buffoons, drunken Germans, dwarfs and other such scurrilities" as well as extravagant costumes and settings, in what is indeed a fantasy version of a Venetian patrician feast. Veronese defended his painting by claiming that this painting had a large amount of space for him to fill; thus, on a practical level, he had to fill in any superfluous space left over which is why he included these figures. The artist also stated that he felt the placement of these figures was a good distance away from Christ, keeping them from tainting the image of the Last Supper.By painting The Feast in the House of Levi in this manner, Veronese had gone against the Council of Trent, which had been created as part of the Counter-Reformation. The Council of Trent included the invention of very strict rules that religious artworks must adhere to. To prevent any type of interference to the righteous message of artworks, the Council of Trent mandated that all religious artworks must refrain from any type of purely decorative or aesthetic additions in artworks. According to the transcript of the trial of Veronese for The Feast in the House of Levi, the artist clearly stated that he had filled the extra space with figures in order to create a full and complete composition. However, the manner in which this was accomplished was in direct violation of the Council of Trent's rules. The artist's reasoning did not move the Holy Tribunal. The Holy Tribunal made clear to Veronese that, in their opinion, he had opened Catholicism up to censure from Protestants and must fix his mistake. In the end, Veronese was told by the Holy Tribunal that he must change his painting within a three-month period. Instead, he simply changed the title to The Feast in the House of Levi, still an episode from the Gospels, but less doctrinally central, and one in which the Gospels specified "sinners" as present. Veronese decided to add an inscription to the painting as well, thereby removing the association to Simon and instead linking the artwork to Levi. After this, no more was said. The transcripts of the trial still exist and are accessible.
Last Supper iconography Republic of Venice Veronese Council of Trent Christ nuncio Venice Vatican inquisitor Counter-Reformation Leon Battista Alberti