Painting: The Family of Darius before Alexander, 1565-7

In this lesson students are asked to describe the painting, paying attention to colours, layout, costumes, animals, mythological characters, body language and posture, etc... We may divide the figures into groups, comparing similarities and differences. We could also imagine to jump into the painting and then describe our perceptions: what we can see, hear, smell and touch. This picture by Paolo Veronese was probably made for Francesco Pisani and might contain portraits of members of his family. The scene represents Alexander the Great's victory over Darius III of Persia. Critics aren't certain about which man in the painting is Alexander, students may try to deduce it. We can read some Classical history and legends about him. There are also some historical notes about XVI century Venice.