The Wedding at Cana and domestic maintenance; be provided a barrel of wine; and be fed in the refectory. Aesthetically, the Benedictine contract stipulated that the painter represent “the history of the banquet of Christ’s miracle at Cana, in Galilee, creating the number of [human] figures that can be fully accommodated.” That Veronese use "optimi colori" (optimum colours) — specifically, the colour ultramarine, a deep-blue pigment made from lapis lazuli, a semi-precious, metamorphic rock. Assisted by his brother, Benedetto Caliari, Veronese delivered the completed painting in September 1563, in time for the "Festa della Madonna della Salute", in November. In the 17th century, during
Marriage at Cana may also be interpreted as the antitype of Moses' first public miracle of . This would establish a symbolic link between Moses as the first savior of the Jews through their escape from Egypt and Jesus as the spiritual savior of all people. Some commentators have speculated about the identity of the unnamed bridegroom. One tradition, represented by Thomas Aquinas among others, holds that the bridegroom was St John the Evangelist himself. Bishop John Spong suggests in his book "Born of a Woman" that the event was actually the wedding of Jesus himself to Mary Magdalene. In 1854, at a