It was painted by Veronese for a wall of a Dominican friary called the refectory of the Basilica di Santi Giovanni e Paolo.

(Luke 5: 29-32).The event taking place in this painting is when Christ announces that one of his disciples will betray him, which is suggested by the surrounding chaos.

[5] The painting is packed with figures and ornate Roman architecture, including a man with a nosebleed, multiple slaves, and drunken Germans.

[2] It is likely that Veronese went against linear perspective due to concerns about the large surface the painting was to take up, as well as the many different angles from which viewers would be seeing this artwork.

[2] The spatial arrangement of the artwork appears to have been of paramount importance to the artist since, in his testimony, he mentioned that the figures who offended the Holy Tribunal were specifically added on a different level than Christ and his apostles were.

[2] In the year of 1573, roughly three months after Veronese had finished this piece, the Venetian Holy Inquisition summoned the artist on the account of his painting to answer questions about elements deemed inappropriate for a depiction of the Last Supper.

[4] There was harmony within the Holy Tribunal as a result of the Republic of Venice and the Vatican being united in their Christian ideals against anything that went against Catholic orthodoxy.

[8] There is evidence that compositions were often left solely up to the artist, as was stated in a painting treatise written in 1435 by Leon Battista Alberti.

[8] During the interrogation, Veronese was asked to explain why the painting contained "buffoons, drunken Germans, dwarfs and other such scurrilities" as well as extravagant costumes and settings, in what is indeed a fantasy version of a Venetian patrician feast.

[2] The artist also stated that he felt the placement of these figures was a good distance away from Christ, keeping them from tainting the image of the Last Supper.

[10] The decrees of the Council of Trent included (at the very last minute) brief and vague rules for religious artworks,[11] which were then codified and amplified by a number of clerical interpreters.

According to the transcript of the trial of Veronese for The Feast in the House of Levi, the artist clearly stated that he had filled the extra space with figures in order to create a full and complete composition.