The Wedding at Cana

In 1553, Veronese moved to Venice and received a commission to represent a well-known episode from the Bible: The Wedding at Cana.

A banquet scene for a refectory
The work was commissioned by the Benedictine community of the Convent of San Giorgio Maggiore to decorate their refectory. They asked Veronese for a monumental work to occupy the entire wall of the hall. It is designed to be hung 2.5 m above the floor and gives the illusion of extending the space.

Intended for an Italian convent, how did the work reach France? To find out, listen to the audio-guide!

A biblical episode in a Venetian festival
The work represents an scene from the New Testament. It is the first miracle of Christ's civil life. Jesus and Mary are invited to a wedding with some of the disciples, but towards the end of the meal, the wine runs out. Christ asks the servants to fill jars usually containing wine with water and then to serve the master of the house. The guests then see that the water was changed into wine.

Veronese transforms this biblical episode into a sumptuous Venetian wedding feast. He mixes characters from the Bible with contemporary figures. Thus, the bride and groom, seated at the end of the table, leave the central place to Christ, surrounded by his mother Mary and his disciples. He also mixes antique traditional costumes made of drapery with contemporary clothes. He goes even further by representing himself in the crowd of guests. To find out where he is, listen to the audio-guide...

One hundred and thirty guests and all different !
What a feat to place so many characters on this canvas and to choreograph correctly the positions and movements of each character!
The painter doesn't stop there, and to differentiate the characters and individualise them, he uses various pigments, from orangey yellows to bright reds and lapis lazuli, used for the sky and the draperies. The variation of colours makes it possible to distinguish the characters and to organise the composition.

After three years of restoration, the colours have regained their brilliance and sometimes even their original hue. Look at the master of ceremonies -the bearded man in the foreground, to the left of the group of musicians- whose red coat has turned green again!