“The Wedding at Cana”
A night painting…
“The Wedding at Cana”, also called “The calling of St John during the marriage at Cana”, is an oil on panel painting by the Dutch Northern Renaissance artist, Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen, from circa 1530 to 1532.
In this painting, Vermeyen paints a scene from the Bible’s Book of John, chapter 2, verses 3-10, the wedding feast at Cana. This is the story where Jesus performed his miracle of turning water into wine. The identities of the wedding couple are interpretations. The venerable Bede and Thomas Aquinas suggested Saint John as the groom. The Rijksmuseum has offered Mary Magdalene as a suggestion for the bride based on their sources. I will use those interpretations for this post, as that is how the Rijksmuseum interprets the piece, and it is in their collections.
The wedding party is seated at a round table. Saint John the Evangelist is the beardless man in the back sitting next to his bride, Mary Magdalene. He is pointing to the wine flagon on the table. To the left of John are the apostles Peter and Andrew, deep in conversation. Mary Magdalene is seated next to Jesus, who’s hands are expressive. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is in the foreground speaking with a servant who is informing her that there is no more wine. Mary looks behind her with worry, giving the viewers a shadowed look at her face. A man strumming a lute to the far left of the painting completes the wedding party.
When Jesus hears that there is no wine, he tells his mother to request barrels of water, which she does. Jesus then turns the water into wine. After Jesus performs the miracle, both John and Mary Magdalene decide to abandon their worldly ways and devote their lives to Jesus and his spiritual cause.
Vermeyen paints a night piece, a genre type ahead of its time. It wasn’t until around 1600 that these types of paintings became more common, when popularized by Caravaggio. The contrasts between the darkness of the shadows and the faces illuminated by candlelight creates drama and intensity. Vermeyen used gold leaf as the flames of the candles, which reflect light in person.
This piece reminds me very much of “The Potato Eaters” by Vincent van Gogh, who copied paintings from the Dutch masters of this period.
“The Wedding at Cana“, or “The calling of St John during the marriage at Cana“, is currently on display at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands.
For more on Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
