The Wedding at Cana

The Wedding at Cana, a story from the New Testament of the Bible, in which Jesus turns water into wine, has been addressed by various artists as a motive. Among the most monumental paintings of this subject belongs the the Italian painter Paolo Caliari, called Veronese, which this 1563 completed. With its size of 9.90 x 6.66 meters, it is one of the greatest images ever created on canvas. The painting was the design of the rear wall of the refectory of the Venetian monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore. Under Napoleon the image was brought to Paris in 1797, it is on display in the Louvre today.

The painting

The Wedding at Cana is at Veronese an opulent oriented feast: In the middle of the table Jesus sits, his mother and the disciple by his side, in the right corner are the clients of the painter, the Benedictine monks of the monastery of San Giorgio, in the image. But the painting goes far beyond the biblical motif: Veronese also has the servants staged, who prepare the feast and provides an outlook of the architecture of his time, a renaissance city complete with pillars, stately buildings and a campanile. Ever seems the miracle of turning water into wine, to play a rather minor role, the guests are not concentrated in any particular situation, but seem to talk about different things. Only in the right part of the image there is a reference to the biblical motif: There are amphorae decanted and the Majordomo considered checking the wine in his glass.

In the foreground musicians play. In addition to the zinc Player offset in the background fall, the three musicians with stringed instruments in particular. The art historian AH Zanetti presented in 1771 to the suggestion that Veronese there himself and two other famous painters has portrayed: He is the musician in the bright robe, seated left, in the middle of it is to concern Tintoretto and the older man in the red robe should be Titian. An indication of the accuracy of this assumption is the image itself: Between the appointed as Veronese musician in the bright robe and the Majordomo there is a great similarity. In the Majordomo is in turn ensures that Veronese has his brother Benedetto Caliari immortalized him in the picture. On closer inspection, Mary notices that Mary holds apparently includes something in his left hand, but this object is not visible in the picture. About the interpretation of which one is unaware.