Sacrificial Death of Marcus Curtius

With its bold perspective, Veronese aimed with this picture at surprising the viewer, an effect which precisely corresponded with the Mannerist taste of the period with its delight in the visually unusual and the artistically playful. The scene depicted here is from the mythical history of Rome: to reconcile the Gods and to save Rome, the heroic Roman Marcus Curtius, after hearing the Oracle pronounce, throws himself down a fissure in the earth at the Forum Romanum. Perhaps originally used as ceiling decoration.