Subsequently, many art historians reattributed the painting to Veronese, including Roberto Longhi and Giuseppe Fiocco in 1928, Rodolfo Pallucchini in 1944, and Terisio Pignatti and Filipo Pedrocco in 1995.

It is likely these restorations greatly obscured the painting's fine details—blurring it with a milky layer[6]—as in 1648 Italian painter Claudio Ridolfi had described "fish [that] jump out of the water to hear [Saint Anthony] as if they understood him".

The left half contains mostly dark blue-green sea and the fish within it, with boats and a mountainous shoreline visible in the distance at extreme center-left.

The rock is almost triangular in shape, jutting out into space as if it were the prow of a ship, thereby implying Anthony is a helmsman guiding the church or serving as a beacon of faith.

[10][11] Anthony, dressed in light gray-blue robes and holding a bunch of white lilies, points down to the fish but is turned toward and looks at the human listeners with a somewhat serious or even castigating expression.

[1][12] Anthony's orientation toward the listeners appears to be inspired by that of Jesus in Tintoretto's circa 1579–1581 Multiplication of Bread and Fishes at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice.

Of these listeners, only one looks directly at Saint Anthony: this figure, dressed in yellow robes and with his right hand over his heart as a sign of devotion, is thought to be a self-portrait of Veronese.

He wears black boots and a yellow turban with a red cockade, addressing his compatriot while gesturing at the fish with his left arm.

[14] Other notable figures in Saint Anthony Preaching to the Fish include a white-bearded elderly man visible in between the two red-robed Turks who looks directly at the viewer—as if to pity the common state of sinners—and may be a portrait of Tintoretto; at far right, a restless-looking child tugging at the dress of the bare-chested woman sitting next to him; and to the right of Anthony, a friar also wearing a light blue robe who is half hidden by the rock and lowers his eyes, overwhelmed.

The inquisitors considered Veronese's depiction of the Last Supper inappropriately sumptuous and festive, and they forced him to alter his painting into one of The Feast in the House of Levi.

This may help explain Veronese's choice of subject matter in Saint Anthony Preaching to the Fish, including his humbling self-portrait, the sympathetic portrait of Tintoretto, and the sumptuous treatment of the bystanders.

Any such representations are usually included as part of larger cycles showing multiple events or miracles in Saint Anthony's life, rather than being standalone works.

Some examples perhaps known to Veronese include a 1520 work located in the ante-sacristy of the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua and attributed to Gian Martino Tranzapani;[17] the 1535–1537 half lunette fresco by Girolamo Tessari located at the Santuario del Noce in Camposampiero;[18] and a 15th-century cycle by Domenico Morone at San Bernardino, Verona, which was likely still extant during Veronese's lifetime.

[21] An image of the sermon also appears in the frontispiece of the Compendio volgare della vita & miracolose opere di Santo Antonio ("Vulgar Compendium of the life & miraculous works of Saint Anthony") by Ippolito da Ponte, printed in Venice in 1532.