Title: Feast at Cana

Artist: Lavinia Fontana

The Wedding Feast at Cana About 1575–80 Lavinia Fontana Italian, Bologna 1552–Rome 1614 Oil on copper This painting depicts an episode from the Bible (Gospel of John 2:1–11) in which Jesus and his mother, Mary, are guests at a wedding. When Mary notices that the wine has run out, Christ delivers a sign of his divinity by turning water into wine at her request. Fontana set the scene against a rich architectural backdrop, highlighting the golden jugs—evidence of the miracle—in the foreground. One of the earliest professional female painters to attain widespread fame in Renaissance Italy, Fontana pioneered the use of copper as a support for small, refined paintings meant for private devotion.