Shira+Solomon



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Shira Solomon

The Marriage at Cana depicts Jesus performing his first miracle, turning water into wine. Different artists living in various time-periods and countries illustrate this picture in a variety of ways. An unknown painter, who is called “Master of the Catholic Kings”, created the art piece that I am studying. This painter created an entire panel of pieces called “The Altarpiece of the Catholic Kings”, and this piece I am studying is from that. In this piece, Jesus is at the head of the table showing the miracle he just performed and is offering it to his guests. The piece is from 15th-century Spain, and you can see the Spanish techniques used in this painting. The painter utilized oil techniques and involved texture and specific detail. The depressed faces on the guests also show the Spanish culture, as do the elaborate costumes. This painting also shows important Spanish emblems, such as one which signifies the marriage of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. The coat-of-arms of the Holy Roman Emperor also signifies the marriages of Ferdinand and Isabella’s daughter Juana and their son Juan. This painting was originally created for a convent or church in Valladolid, Spain. Valladolid was a very royal city, and many leaders appreciated the city. In 1919, the painting was sold to a resident of Madrid. In 1924, it was sold again and appeared in the Frick Art Reference Library in New York. In 1941, it was purchased by French and Co. Finally, in 1952, it was given as a gift to the National Gallery of Art. I think this picture is very symbolic, because it depicts many monarchs and people of power surrounding Jesus, while the two servants are depicted significantly smaller. They are standing with their front towards the monarchs and they are clearly ready to serve. I think it would be interesting to show this painting with the servants enlarged to get a different meaning from this.

The Marriage at Cana depicts Jesus performing his first miracle, turning water into wine. Different artists living in various time-periods and countries illustrate this picture in a variety of ways. An unknown painter, who is called “Master of the Catholic Kings”, created the art piece that I am studying. This painter created an entire panel of pieces called “The Altarpiece of the Catholic Kings”, and this piece I am studying is from that. In this piece, Jesus is at the head of the table showing the miracle he just performed and is offering it to his guests. The first two overlays show the smaller servants growing larger to become the same size as the rest of the people in the picture. The servants were seen as "lesser" than the guests and here I scale them up. The third overlay shows the same scene depicted by another author, with the main characters from the original photo in place. The fourth overlay shows the scene without Jesus, which takes all of the meaning out of the photo. The last overlay shows the wine actually changing from water to wine.

Example of Recontextualization (first week assignment that I missed):