Veronese: The Marriage in Cana (Clementoni 4000)

The Wedding at Cana, painted in 1562–1563 was commissioned by Benedictine monks for the San Giorgio Maggiore Monastery in Venice. The contract insisted on the huge size (66 square meters!), and that the quality of pigment and colors should be of premium quality. The contract also specified that the painting should include as many figures as possible. There are a number of portraits (including portraits of Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese himself) staged upon a canvas surface nearly ten meters wide. The scene, taken from the Book of John, II, 1–11, represents the first miracle performed by Jesus, the making of wine from water, at a marriage in Cana, Galilee.