Inspired by the story of Christ's first miracle as recounted in the Gospel of St. John, Paolo Veronese's dazzling, monumental painting The Wedding at Cana was comissioned to be hung in the refectory of the Benedictine monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. The artist stages a sumptuous banquet for the wedding guests at Cana, packed with intriguing details: a seemingly endless parade of precious drinking vessels, platters and cake stands containing mouth-watering desserts. Veronese transforms a religious scene into a wordly event, a glamorous ceremony whose participants include not only a colourful bevy of cosmopolitan Venetians of the artist's day, but also a generous sampling of servants, jesters and animals, all of this against the backdrop of magnificent architectural perspectives and luminous skies. Veering from realism to the fantastical, in a virtuoso display of his own vision of art and life, Veronese's masterpiece reserves at least two remarkable surprises, once the true identity of a number of personages is revealed: the bride and groom, and especially the musicians who perform for them.
