The marriage at Cana

Master of the Catholic Kings (active ca. 1485-1500)

Item type:

painting

Date of creation:

ca. 1496

Height:

155.7 cm  (61 5/16 in.)

Width:

95.8 cm  (37 11/16 in.)

overall (original painted surface): 137.1 x 92.7 cm (54 x 36 1/2 in.); overall (with addition at bottom): 153.1 x 92.7 cm (60 1/4 x 36 1/2 in.); overall (with added border strips): 155.7 x 95.8 cm (61 5/16 x 37 11/16 in.); framed: 184.8 x 130.5 x 12.7 cm (72 3/4 x 51 3/8 x 5 in.)

Technique / Medium:

oil on panel

Description

In a gallery in the background, three men are playing straight trumpets.
Christ is shown here at the scene of his first miracle—the transformation of water into wine. He stands at the banquet table of a wedding, his right hand raised in a gesture of benediction, while a servant, pointing to the clay jars on the floor as if to explain what has just taken place, offers the bridal pair a goblet of the transformed liquid.

The unidentified artist's name is derived from his principal work, The Altarpiece of the Catholic Kings, of which this panel is a part. Visible among the heraldic devices are the insignia of provinces united by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella. The additional presence of the Holy Roman Emperor's coat–of–arms implies that The Marriage at Cana also alludes to two contemporary weddings significant in European history—those of Ferdinand and Isabella's daughter Juana in 1496 to the son of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I of Austria, and their son Juan in 1497 to the Holy Roman Emperor's daughter.

People as subjects

Jesus Christ
St. Mary (Blessed Virgin)

Iconclass

73C611
the marriage-feast at Cana (John 2:1-11)

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

End-blown trumpet [6556]

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

RIdIM record id

3916