The Marriage at Cana. Gaetano Gandolfi
This scene depicts the first miracle of Christ, related in the Gospel of John. At a wedding, after all the wine had been drunk, Jesus ordered six jars to be filled with water, which he then turned into wine. Here, Jesus points to the jars while his mother gazes reverently at him.
Gandolfi introduces a variety of figures, including both an oriental man wearing a turban and an African servant, and anecdotal details (the fighting animals), resulting in a liveliness of pictorial expression comparable to Tiepolo.
This work was the "modello" (preparatory version) for an enormous canvas painted for the eating hall in the convent of San Salvatore in Bologna and now in the National Museum there.
1766 (Baroque)
oil on canvas
Painted surface H to arched top: 33 15/16 x W: 44 1/8 in. (86.2 x 112 cm)
Stretcher Height: 89 cm (35 in). Width: 112 cm (44.1 in).
Walters Art Museum
Accession number 37.1919
Place of creation Bologna, Italy
Object history
The Counts Grassi, Bologna [date and mode of acquisition unknown]
Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1881 catalogue: no. 95
1897 catalogue: no. 410, as G. B. Tiepolo]
1902: purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore
1931: bequeathed to Walters Art Museum by Henry Walters
Exhibition history Bella Pittura: The Art of the Gandolfi. Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. 1993. Tiepolo Unveiled: The Restoration of a Masterpiece. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1996.
Credit line Acquired by Henry Walters with the Massarenti Collection, 1902
References Federico Zeri (1976) (in English) Italian paintings in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore: Walters Art Gallery, no. 442, pp. 553 OCLC: 2463997.
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