Supper in the House of Simon the Pharisee is a 1544 oil on canvas painting by Moretto da Brescia, now in the Chiesa della PietàinVenice, Italy.
It is Moretto's largest work, inspired by the Venetian school and also held by art historians to be one of the inspirations for the style of Paolo Veronese. He also included more minor details than usual in his work, probably at the request of the commissioner, the Canons Regular of San Giorgio in Alga. It was intended to hang in the refectory of their monastery of San Giacomo Maggiore on San Giorgio in Alga in the Venetian lagoon.[1] The first record of the work (byGiacomo Filippo Tomasini in 1642) records it still hung in its original position,[2] as did Carlo Ridolfi in 1648.[3]
When the Canons Regular were suppressed by pope Clement IX, the painting was taken into central Venice, though its next location there is unknown.[1] In 1771 Anton Maria Zanetti [Wikidata] (1706-1778) wrote of seeing it in central Venice "in the ante-choir of the Spedale della Pietà", that is inside the Pio Ospedale della Pietà.[4] In 1820 the Austrian Imperial government subsidized the painting's restoration at the Scuola Grande di Santa Maria della Carità. It stayed on display there and later joined the collection of the Gallerie dell'Accademia.[1] In the second half of the 20th century, to remedy its unsuitable location in the Gallerie, it was moved to the city's Diocesan Museum after another restoration.[5]
