Veronese has treated this subject twice. Accordingly the picture in the Louvre must not be confounded with that of the same name in the Brera museum at Milan. In spite of the value of the latter, it bears no comparison to the gigantic canvas in the national museum of France.

This picture of the Wedding at Cana was painted by Veronese for the refectory of the convent of San Giorgio Maggiore, on the island that faces the Riva dei Schiavoni. It remained there until the time of Napoleon’s Italian Campaign. Bonaparte, who loved the arts without understanding them, laid profane hands on the great majority of Italian masterpieces. This painting by Veronese was one of the number, and found a place in the Louvre. The treaty of 1815 obliged France to restore these treasures, but the Austrian commissioners, appointed to accomplish the restitution, became alarmed at the difficulties of transportation which the Wedding at Cana presented. They accordingly consented to exchange this canvas for a painting by Le Brun, The Feast at the House of the Pharisee. Veronese’s masterpiece remained in the Louvre, in which it is one of the most flawless gems.

The contract drawn up between Veronese and the Prior of San Giorgio Maggiore for the execution of this picture has been preserved. The painter bound himself to deliver it within a year, since the contract was signed June 6, 1562 and the delivery of the canvas took place of September 8, 1563. He was to be furnished with canvas and colours, to be entitled to take his meals at the convent and receive a cask of wine as additional recompense. As to remuneration for his work, it was fixed by mutual agreement at 324 ducats, which, in the 16th century, corresponded to 972 francs in the coin of France. Taking into consideration the enhanced value of money since that epoch, these 972 francs would represent to-day 7,000 francs. Such is the price which the greatest artist of his time received for a masterpiece which to-day commands the admiration of the entire world.

Never did Veronese display so much brilliance, dispense so much imagination as in the Wedding at Cana; never did he show a greater dexterity in execution; for, however considerable the dimensions of the canvas may be, it demanded nothing less than genius to distribute without clash or disproportion the hundred and thirty-two personages which compose it. A painter less thoroughly sure of himself would have made a sorry mess of this Feast; Veronese has produced a composition that is admirable for its balance, in abounding charming details, and unexpected and picturesque episodes, that do not in the least detract from the effect of the painting as a whole.

On this picture, as on so many others from the brush of Veronese, one cannot, as has already been said, pass an equitable judgment, unless one accepts, without question, the master’s method. Veronese had no more respect for religious tradition than he had for mythological legend. To take issue with the incongruities and anachronisms of the Wedding at Cana, is voluntarily to debar oneself from discussing it. If historic exactitude is the one thing that counts in a painting, then this picture simply does not exist. But happily painting has no need to justify itself to history; it is amply sufficient to itself, without borrowing anything from history, and loses nothing of its beauty if perchance it does violence to history. And of this the Wedding at Cana furnishes a most eloquent proof.

The composition of this famous picture is well known. Jesus is seated in the middle focus, at the centre of the table, which is curved on each side in the form of a horse-shoe. To fill this immense table, Veronese did not go to the scriptures in search of personages; he drew them from his surroundings and from his own imagination.

The groom, a handsome, black bearded young man, clad in purple and gold, is no other than Alphonso d’Avalos, Marquis del Vasto, and the bride is a portrait of Eleanora of Austria, sister of Charles V., and Queen of France. On the left, one discovers, with some surprise, Francis I., Charles V., the Sultan Achmed II., and Queen Mary of England. Beside the Sultan is a woman richly robed and holding a tooth-pick; she is Vittoria Colonna, Marchesa di Pescara; then, further on are monks, cardinals, and personal friends of the artist. Standing up, clad in brocade and holding a cup in his hand, is Veronese’s brother, Benedetto Caliari. In the centre are a group of musicians. The octogenarian bending over his viol, is a portrait of Titian; Bassano is playing the flute; Tintoretto and Veronese himself draw their bow across the strings of a ’cello.

The success of the Wedding at Cana was triumphal. The great painters of Venice, contemporaries of Veronese, overwhelmed him with proofs of their admiration; even morose Tintoretto found some extremely amiable words in which to praise his rival in fame, and Titian embraced the happy painter when he chanced to meet him in the city streets.

These praises were merited; the Wedding at Cana is quite truly one of the most beautiful masterpieces in the world’s collection of paintings.

The renown obtained by this admirable work brought Veronese a host of orders. The various cities vied with each other to secure him to decorate their churches or their convents. His first patron, the Prior Torlioni, ordered a picture from him for the convent of San Sebastiano, the church of which he had already decorated. Veronese, by no means ungrateful, painted for him the Feast at the House of the Leper, in 1570; three years later he painted for the dominican monastery of San Giovanni e Paolo the Feast at the House of Levi, to decorate one side of the refectory. The monks had only a modest sum at their disposal and tremblingly offered it to the now celebrated painter; they naÏvely added the donation of a few casks of wine. Veronese exhibited the most complete disinterestedness by accepting these humble offers of the Prior. This was his third Feast.

The fourth, known under the name of the Feast at the House of Simon the Pharisee, was executed for the refectory of the Brotherhood of Servites. It represents Magdalen on her knees, wiping the feet of Christ with her hair. This painting now hangs in the Louvre, opposite the Wedding at Cana. It has been the property of France for two centuries, and the history of its acquisition by Louis XIV is curious enough to be worth the telling. Colbert, having learned that Spain had negotiated for the purchase of the Feast at the House of Simon, resolved to go to any lengths in order to acquire it himself, on behalf of Louis XIV. The French ambassador to Venice, Pierre de Bonzi, was charged with the negotiations. To address himself directly to the Servites was impossible, since there was a law in the Venetian Republic forbidding the sale and exportation of any native works of art. Bonzi pursued the course of informing the Signoria of his royal master’s wish. The Signoria, desirous of securing the good will of the great king, without violating her own laws, purchased with public funds the picture from the Servites, and straightway offered it to Louis XIV, who returned warm thanks to his “very dear and great friends, allies and confederates, after having seen this rare and most perfect original.”