"The Wedding at Cana"

Veronese freely mixes the biblical with the contemporary.  Jesus and Mary are surrounded by luminous auras. They are joined however by no fewer than 130 figures, and while some are clothed in biblical dress, others have on nore modern attire. There are servants, jesters, dwarfs, a parrot, cats, dogs and Venetian nobles, and distinguished foreigners identified through their exotic dress. Figures including Mary I of England, Suleiman the Magnificent (the tenth Sultan of the Ottoman Empire) and Emperor Charles V are all featured amongst the guests.

Veronese's lush, vivacious style would seem inappropriate for such a pious subject. His preference for luminous color schemes was designed to delight the eye and there is the hint of eroticism in his supple, sensuous fabrics that suggest the body beneath. Veronese's willingness to push these conventions points to a sense of daring that comes through his desire to underscore the sacred with the profane. 

Though the story cannot be verified, it has become part of the painting's legend that the musicians in the center foreground are none other than Veronese himself in white with a viola da gamba. He is flanked by two other Venetian Masters, Titian and Bassano, while the figure examining the wine glass (to his left) is the poet and author, Pietro Aretino.