Nozze di Cana, Il profeta Eliseo monda i cibi infetti, Miracolo della mensa di San Benedetto
San Pietro Museum Complex
Giorgio Vasari
oil on canvas
1566
There are three paintings in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament by Giorgio Vasari, the painter, architect and historian from Arezzo. A careful and precise expression of 16th century mannerism, brought to Perugia by one of the most faithful of Michelangelo’s followers, the canvasses are witness to Vasari’s mastery of painting, an art in which he had already acquired substantial practice in the Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome, the refectory of the Church of Sant’Anna dei Lombardi in Naples, and the Sala dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.
Vasari is best known for his great historiographical body of work, Le Vite, a history of art narrated through a series of biographies of individual artists. The first edition published in 1550 was expanded on in 1568 by the inclusion of material gathered during several journeys to different parts Italy. Among the most significant of these was a sojourn in Umbria in around 1566, the same year work was begun on the canvases in San Pietro.
The San Pietro archives hold the complete documentation covering contracts, payments and execution of the three paintings commissioned by Abbott Giacomo Dei of San Pietro and hung there by the master at Easter in 1566. The paintings were intended to decorate the monastery this is clear from the subjects portrayed, which refer to the theme and food and dining, such as the Gospel description of the Wedding Feast of Cana.
The scene of the miracle is set in an interior delimited by a double ramp of stairs that lead to a balcony. In the centre, the main characters stand around a circular table, each captured with a specific pose and expression. The artist’s attention to and care for details can be seen in the elegance of the women’s gowns in the foreground and his visual description of the objects in the scene. In 1763 the canvasses were moved from the refectory to the Cappella del Sacramento (Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament).
