The Italian artist, Paolo Veronese, also known as Paolo Caliari, (1528-1588) was one of the major painters of the Venetian School in the 16th century. His paintings are usually huge and vastly crowded canvases depicting symbolic, Biblical and historical subjects in fabulous colours and set in a framework of typical Renaissance construction. Veronese was an expert in the use of colour and also excelled at illusionary compositions.

The painting ‘The Wedding at Cana’ (1563), oil on canvas, 267 inches × 391 inches, is a representational canvas that depicts a miracle story from the New Testament. According to the narrative, Mary, Jesus of Nazareth and some of his Apostles had been invited to a wedding where the supply of wine was exhausted and, at the request of his mother, Jesus converted water into wine. It is the most expensive canvas in the painting collection of the Musée du Louvre, Paris.— M.Z.A

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, June 26th, 2016