It's an unsettling experience to be wandering around the island of San Giorgio Maggiore and to suddenly see, through a large doorway, a work of art you know to have been removed from the place over two centuries ago. It's a bit like seeing ghost, but there's nothing spectral or wavering or diminished about this phantasm. No, it's vivid and large as life--though not the thing itself.
For those who--like me before this lucky afternoon--haven't see the reproduction of Veronese's Marriage Feast of Cana in the setting of the the San Giorgio Maggiore refectory for which it was originally created, the following link provides an interesting account of the painting's history, its theft by Napoleon, and its virtual return in this detailed full-scale reproduction by Adam Lowe's Factum Arte: http://old.cini.it/uploads/box/2a493868a94e80a8774dc93cb2206264.pdf
For those who--also like me--didn't have the chance to see the multimedia work that director Peter Greenaway created around and quite literally on this facsimile during the 2009 Venice Biennale, there is now an almost 4 minute clip of it here: http://www.factum-arte.com/pag/102/Peter-Greenaway-on--br--Veronese-apos-s-Wedding-at-Cana. With the use of digital projections and music Greenaway makes Veronese's famous painting his own (as, in a much older analog media, Tiepolo also made Veronese his own), and in doing so, enables us to see the painting in entirely new ways. It looks to have been a marvelous fantasia, which one can only hope might some day be staged again.
Fascinating! Thank you for the links. We have just booked to spend a winter month in Venice and find your blog most helpful and interesting.
ReplyDeleteYour visit must be fast approaching, Freda, by this time. You'll probably be arriving (wisely) after the Milan Expo has finished, which should (along with the season) diminish some of the mad crowds!
DeleteI visited for the first time Foundation Cini in San Giorgio two years ago, in July at a moment when Piazza San Marco was overcrowded. We were less than ten tourists with a guide walking in the empty corridors of this giant monastery. Catching suddenly a glimpse of this Veronese’s famous painting afield at the bottom of the elevated great refectory was very impressive and moving. In fact, this painting here is a wonderful copy as the original one was a part of Napoleon’s spoils of war from Venice and is now in Paris. Even if the museum room is very large, the impression is quite different seeing it in The Louvre. In San Giorgio, it is the only painting in a giant refectory with uncovered walls, making a striking contrast between austerity and exuberance, a typical venitian impression. The modern but classical restoration of the refectory enhances the whole impression and makes us closer of the intention of the painter. Very interesting video by Peter Greenaway, a very scenic vision of The Weeding at Cana by Veronese. Thank you for the link Sig. Nonloso!
ReplyDeleteI remember also that, going down the stairs from the refectory back to the cloister, there is a large painting at the top of the wall of the entrance room. It was also rather impressive and colorful, even if that painting is not such a masterpiece than the Veronese’s one. As it was forbidden to take photo, I have no picture of this painting (an Ultima Cena I would say) and the guide did not know who was the painter. Does somebody know that painting and may be have photos? (By Auvraisien)
I'm sorry, Auvraisien, I have not been back to San Giorgio and since your comment and so I don't have an answer to your question. I thought I might get back and so waited to reply, but at this point I have no idea when my next chance to go into that area will be. It would be marvelous if the Veronese were some day returned to the space for which it was created, and in which, as you point out, it functions in a certain way, but I suspect that will never happen. The stolen Veronese is one of the great works among the many great works of the Louvre.
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