“The Wedding at Cana”: a miracle reproduced

Published: 2007 - November, Culture, Venetian Itinerary

A facsimile that does not reinstates historical justice. Back at the Palladian Refectory on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore is a copy of the famous painting The Wedding at Cana, stolen by the French in 1797. The unveiling of the new facsimile opened the exhibition “The Miracle at Cana: Originality Through Reproduction,” organized by the Institute of Art History at the Giorgio Cini Foundation and by the Madrid Factum Arte Atelier. The exhibition, which was open September 15 to 30, is to reopen on October 12 (through December 16, 2007). Still open are the wounds over the removal of many art treasures by the French during Napoleon’s occupation of Italy. These include not only Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa but also many other works taken away by French troops and never returned. Justice has not been served yet, but the pain has been alleviated now in Venice with this reproduction.
The large canvas, painted by Paolo Veronese in 1563 for the refectory (after it had been rebuilt by Andrea Palladio), was indeed removed by Napoleon’s commissioners in 1797 and whisked away to Paris as part of the spoils of war. Since then the painting has remained in France, currently at the Louvre. On September 11, two-hundred and ten years later, The Wedding at Cana is finally ‘back’ in its original setting by way of a ‘second original’: the facsimile painting possesses all the elements that made the famous painting special – the brushstrokes, the shades of color, even the textural imperfections of the canvas and the marks of wear by time. Thanks to a meticulous philological reconstruction work and virtual restoration, you can also see whatever the 20th-century restorations and refurbishments have covered. The compositional harmony, details and range of colors make this facsimile indistinguishable to the naked eye from the original.
The 1:1 scale replica was created using the most sophisticated reproduction techniques by Factum Arte, a company specializing in reconstruction and reproduction of works of art for large international cultural organizations.
The ‘return’ of The Wedding at Cana to San Giorgio Maggiore should revive the magic aura of the place, the original esthetic balance which made this artistic wonder, created by Palladio and Veronese, wholly comprehensible. The return of this work to its original setting is a symbolic conclusion of the global restoration work of the San Giorgio Maggiore building complex, begun by Vittorio Cini more than fifty years ago.
The exhibition “The Miracle at Cana: Originality Through Reproduction” offers besides the large facsimile also old replicas, documentary evidence, descriptions of the painting, detailed information and tools used for producing the facsimile.