Tátrai Vilmos szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 95. (Budapest, 2001)
FRANKLIN, DAVID: Giorgio Vasari's Marriage Feast at Cana in Budapest
his own admission making notes in locations from Perugia up to Venice for the second, revised edition of his Lives to appear in 1568, but which appears to have been prepared for printing already in 1566 itself. The other mention of the Perugia commission is found in an entry of 7th April 1566 in Vasari's record book. This maintains that he painted the three works, including "in una le nozze che Cristo in Cana Galilea fece dell'aqua vino", for the Abbot Jacopo Dei and the Benedictines in Perugia at a cost of four hundred scudi. 4 There are further entries in the same source for two other works painted for the Benedictines in Perugia around 1568 not mentioned in the autobiography, both of which are now lost, though drawings may be linked to them. These are XheRelease of Saint Peter, for an unrecorded price, and a small Incoronation of the Virgin with Saint Michael and six other saints, clearly for private devotion, at a cost of fifty scudi. 5 The latter is relevant for the format and value of the Budapest painting as Vasari terms it a "tavoletta", despite the elevated cost. A compositional drawing in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London may be preparatory for the latter of these untraced pictures. 6 So these two descriptions of quite different literary purpose agree that only three works were produced for the refectory commission in Perugia. Any smaller related paintings like the one in Budapest are not mentioned in the entry book, unlike the Incoronation of the Virgin, suggesting either it was an informal commission, not painted by Vasari personally, or possibly painted without direct financial recompense. To stress this point: the Budapest picture is not explicitly documented by Vasari. The passage in Vasari's Life and this entry have, none the less, usually been accepted as supplying an approximate date for the smaller version of the Feast at Cana, though this dating to 1566 is far from proven and requires discussion. To begin with, the entry of April 1566 corresponds to the completion date for the public project and not its initiation. In fact, a series of unpublished documents in the account books of the main Benedictine house in Florence of the Badia indicate rather that the commission had been given out as early as 2nd September 1564, when Vasari received the initial fifty florins from the Benedictines with the last recorded payment of 30th July 1566, and so the parameters 4 Giorgio Vasari: Der Literarische Nachlass 2, ed. Frey, K., and Frey, H.W., Munich 1930 (hereafter Vasari-Frey, 1930), pp. 878-79, ricordo 310: "Ricordo come il Reverendo Padre don Iacopo dei abate di San Piero di Perugia se Ii fecie tre tavole per il refettorio di quel convento alte braccia 5 larghe 3 1/2 in una le nozze che Christo incana Galilea fecie dell'aqua vino inun'altra: Helia profeta con i suoi eremiti fa adolcire le coloquinte che erano am are: nell 'altra San Benedetto che a suoi Monaci essendo mancata la farina el grano miracolosamente gli angeli di Dio gli conducano la farina con muli al convento della quale opera che si porto su del mese di Aprile di questo anno il di della domenica dello Olivo ci donö scudi quattrocento in più partite cioè: scudi 400." 5 Vasari-Frey, 1930, p. 880: "[1568] Ricordo, come si fecie per i Monaci di Perugia di San Piero una tavoletta per certe lor monachi drentovi FIncoronatione di Nostra Donna, San Michèle ed altri sei santi che se n'ebbe scudi cinquanta: scudi 50". Vasari-Frey, 1930, p. 884: "[1568J In Perugia una tavola nelle monache di San Benedetto entrovi la storia di San Piero in prigione, quale gli feciono fare i monaci neri di detto ordine." The latter entry is from the list compiled by Vasari's nephew Marcantonio, and so the date of 1568 may not be accurate. On the unreliability of his dating of his uncle's work see Franklin, D., A gonfalone banner by Giorgio Vasari reunited, The Burlington Magazine, 137 (1995) p. 747. 6 As suggested by Villani, R., Un'eco della raffaellesca 'Incoronazione della Vergine' di Monteluce in un dipinto del Vasari nella Badia aretina, Paragone, No. 407 (1984) p. 59.
