Coriolanus persuaded by his Family to spare Rome

Michele da Verona was a Veronese painter active around 1470–1530, associated with the circle of Liberale da Verona and the broader tradition of late Quattrocento Veronese painting. His Coriolanus persuaded by his Family to spare Rome, dated 1502 and now in the National Gallery, London, depicts a pivotal scene from Roman history recorded by Plutarch and Livy: the exiled Roman general Coriolanus, who had marched on Rome with a Volscian army, relenting after his mother Veturia and wife Volumnia intercede on behalf of the city. The subject was a humanist favorite for its exploration of the conflict between personal honor and civic duty, and for the dramatic possibilities of the maternal intercession scene. Michele's treatment shows Veronese painters engaging with the humanist taste for Roman historical narrative that was reshaping Italian patronage in the High Renaissance.

Michele da Verona stages the confrontation between Coriolanus and his family with the kind of animated figure grouping characteristic of Veronese narrative painting — expressive gestures, varied poses, and a landscape setting that gives the historical drama a vivid physical context. Drapery is painted with Veronese richness of color, and the figures show the influence of Mantegna's sculptural figure style.