The wedding at Cana
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| The wedding at Cana |
|---|
| Paolo Veronese , 1563 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 677 × 994 cm |
| Louvre |
The Wedding at Cana is a painting on the theme of the Wedding at Cana by the Italian painter Paolo Caliari, called Veronese , which he completed in 1563. Veronese's The Wedding at Cana is one of the most monumental paintings on the subject. With its size of 9.94 × 6.77 meters, it is one of the largest pictures ever created on canvas. The painting was used to design the rear wall of the refectory of the Venetian monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore . The painting was brought to Paris under Napoleon in 1797 and can now be viewed in the Louvre .
The wedding at Cana is a story from the Gospel according to John ( Jn 2 : 1–12 EU ), in which Jesus turns water into wine. It has been taken up as a motif by various painters .
On September 11, 2007, 210 years after the day he was abducted to Paris, a facsimile of the picture was installed at its destination in the refectory of San Giorgio Maggiore.
The paintings
The wedding in Cana is an opulent feast for Veronese: In the middle of the table sits Jesus, his mother , who said to the guests, "do what he tells you" and the disciples at his side, they are in the right corner The painter's commissioner, the Benedictine monks of the San Giorgio monastery, in the picture. But the painting goes far beyond the biblical motif: Veronese has also staged the servants who prepare the feast and provides a view of the architectural ideals of his time, an ancient urban landscape with columns, lordly buildings and a contemporary campanile in the style of Renaissance . In general, the miracle of turning water into wine seems to play a minor role; the guests are not focused on a specific situation, but seem to be talking about very different things. Only in the right part of the picture is there a reference to the biblical motif: Amphorae are poured and the majordomo examines the wine in his glass.
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Musicians play in the foreground. In addition to the prong player , who has moved into the background, the three musicians with the stringed instruments stand out in particular. In 1771, the art historian AH Zanetti suggested that Veronese portrayed himself and two other famous painters there: he is the musician in the light robe, sitting on the left, in the middle it is said to be Tintoretto and the older man in the red robe is supposed to be Titian . The picture itself gives an indication of the correctness of this assumption: there is a great resemblance between the musician in the light-colored garb, identified as Veronese, and the majordomo. In the case of the majordomo, it is certain that Veronese immortalized his brother Benedetto Caliari in the picture with him. On closer inspection of Mary, it becomes apparent that Mary is apparently holding something in her left hand, but this object is not visible in the picture. One is not clear about the interpretation of this. However, it can be assumed that Mary is indicating that the wine is running low, as her hand is bent as if she were holding a (missing) goblet of wine.
literature
- Navid Kermani : Incredible amazement. About Christianity . Munich: Beck, 2015, pp. 21–26.
- Il miracolo di Cana. L'originalità della ri-produione. Venice di S. Giorgo Maggiore. Catalog of the fund. Cini. Venice 2007.
- Andreas Priever: Role model and myth: the story of the impact of the "Wedding at Cana" . Sigmaringen 1997.
- Rose-Marie and Rainer Hagen: Viewing Images - Masterpieces in Detail , Benedikt Taschen Verlag Cologne 1994.
Web links
See also: