The Wedding at Cana, c.1562/63 by Paolo Caliari Veronese
Canvas Print - 19162-VPC

In 1562 Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) began The Marriage at Cana, a painting based on an episode borrowed from the Gospel of John, for the refectory of the Benedictine monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. It is the first miracle performed by Christ, who turned water into wine during a wedding feast to which he was invited together with his mother.

Under the artist's magical brush, the small town of Cana in Galilee has been transformed into a magnificent Venetian palace, decorated with statues and colonnades after the ancient model, with a vast open terrace towering over the festive meal. Christ, his mother and the apostles are at the centre of the composition, with Jesus' head exactly on the imaginary central axis of the canvas. There is thus no doubt that this is a religious subject.

The painter respects the will of the monks, but also depicts a sumptuous 16th-century Venetian feast. He takes the opportunity to include his contemporaries in the scene - Titian, Tintoretto, Jacopo Bassano, Palladio and himself. This is the group of musicians. The artist is, in fact, inviting us to a sophisticated secular celebration. Even in his first works Veronese shines with his genius and his gift as a colourist, building large-scale compositions populated with ornate characters immersed in a serene and elegant atmosphere. In 1553, he settled in Venice, participating in the creation of large decorative cycles that reveal his exceptional talent as a decorator; he mastered space with deep perspectives, amazing angles, with bright and shining colours. After the ceilings in the Doge's Palace, the ceiling and the walls of the Church of San Sebastiano, Veronese painted the huge cycle for the Villa Barbaro in Maser, one of the most important works of the Venetian School with the trompe-I'oeil method of decoration - a complete illusion of reality.

The Wedding at Cana followed, and later The Abduction of Europa. His works became more intimate, he paid more attention to the characters and landscapes and depicted them with tenderness and warmth. Veronese's world, inseparable from a Venice devoted to splendour and pleasure, would inspire painters such as Pieter Paul Rubens and Giambattista Tiepolo with its inexhaustible opulence.