The architectural setting, involving the two large columns (which have been cropped to fit the altarpiece) draw emphasis vertically and to the height of the work; which draws the eye Heavenwards. These columns in the center of the painting are unprecedented in Renaissance painting, and are the subject of some controversy. X-rays reveal that Titian painted several other architectural elements in their place before settling on the columns. Some critics have even speculated that Titian did not paint the columns. The outdoors setting suggests that the activity is taking place in a portico, in which the grandeur of the columns somehow belittles the human beings which leave the figures and the viewer almost in awe of the greater implied force.