Ancilla Domini

Title: Ancilla Domini
Artist: Rupert Bunny
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Size: 100.3 x 110.4 cm
Date: 1896
Location: Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.

Luke 1: 26-33: In the sixth month after Elizabeth had become pregnant, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee. He was sent to a virgin. The girl was engaged to a man named Joseph. He came from the family line of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel greeted her and said, "The Lord has given you special favor. He is with you." Mary was very upset because of his words. She wondered what kind of greeting this could be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary. God is very pleased with you. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son. You must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make him a king like his father David of long ago. He will rule forever over his people, who came from Jacob's family. His kingdom will never end."

This section of Luke’s Gospel focuses on the simple faith of a teenage girl, Mary. As a young girl, of perhaps twelve or fourteen years old, Mary would have has virtually no social status with which to expect such a laudatory greeting. Indeed, it is easy to understand why she would have been “troubled” by such words. There is a Pre-Raphaelite influence in this work that is evident in the way that the artist has used the bright, flat surface of the red drape to frame the action and turn the angel into a monumental silhouette; other Pre-Raphaelite touches include the black-and-white tiled floor and the compressed space of the room with its low platform or dais. The influence of Symbolism abounds as well: the angel is holding a stem of white lilies, the lily being a Christian symbol for the Virgin Mary; the rose held by Mary is particularly associated with the Virgin, who was known as 'the rose without thorns'; the book on the lectern near Mary's head refers to Mary being in the act of reading when the angel appeared, the passage in question being from the celebrated prophecy of Isaiah (7:14), 'A young woman is with child and she will bear a son'.

Rupert Bunny (September 1864 –May 1947) was one of the generation of Australian artists who went abroad in the later 19th century to extend their training and establish their reputations; Bunny travelled to Europe in 1884, and studied in Paris at the studio of Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921), a French artist who specialized in historical and religious subjects; in 1888, Bunny exhibited with the Société des Artistes Français and in 1890 he became the first Australian to gain a 'mention honorable'; he painted many subjects during his long career, including portraits, landscapes, and mythological and religious themes, but is best known for his paintings of women, either languidly reclining single figures or a group in intimate conversation, evoking a luxurious and leisurely world.

The Wedding at Cana

Title: The Marriage at Cana

Artist: Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen

Medium: Oil on panel

Size: 66 x 85 cm

Date: c. 1530

Location: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

The second miracle account that displays Jesus' power over nature is recorded in John 2:1-10. It is known as the Wedding at Cana, or Turning Water into Wine.

On the third day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.” Jesus replied, “Dear woman, that’s not our problem. My time has not yet come.” But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions. When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. “A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!”

The subject of this candle-lit scene of a group of people sitting at table is probably a moment that preceded the miracle: the calling of St John the Evangelist during the wedding feast at Cana. According to a late-medieval tradition, the wedding feast at Cana celebrated the marriage of John the Evangelist and Mary Magdalene. Seated in the centre behind the table are the beardless John and his bride, with the apostles Peter and Andrew to the left of them, at the moment when the meal is being served. In the foreground the Virgin Mary turns to her right and grasps the shoulder of the servant who tells her that there is no wine. The way in which Vermeyen depicts the scene as viewed from above with the figures closely packed around the circular table is highly original. The lighting of the faces and figures is capricious and imparts remarkable liveliness to the scene. According to tradition, John, followed by Mary Magdalene, opted for a spiritual rather than a physical marriage.

Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen (Beverwijk c. 1503 - Brussels 1559) was a Netherlandish painter and tapestry designer, probably a pupil of Mabuse. About 1525 he became Court Painter to Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands at Mechelen and in 1535 he accompanied the Emperor Charles V to Tunis. This journey supplied him with scenes for later works, including tapestries designed 1545/48 for the Regent, Mary of Hungary.

Title: Wedding Feast at Cana

Artist: Louis Kahan

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: tbd

Date: 1949

Location: tbd

Louis Kahan (1905-2002), was an Australian artist born in Vienna, who’s long and distinguished career spanned most of the twentieth century. The range and scope of his oeuvre defies categorization and covers a wide variety of media, encompassing painting, printmaking, design and stained glass. In 1993 his contribution to Australian cultural life was recognized when he was made an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO).

The Gospel of John says the mother of Jesus was at the wedding and that Jesus and his disciples were also invited, perhaps implying that they got into town at the last minute and were invited to come along. Their unexpected presence at the wedding may account for the wine shortage. When the wine runs out Jesus responds to his mother’s request with a cryptic saying, literally "what [is there] to me and to you?" It occurs a number of times in the New Testament (Mt 8:29; Mk 1:24; 5:7; Lk 8:28). Here, the idiom "what [is there] to me and to you?" expresses distance, but not disdain. It is part of the larger theme that Jesus is guided by his heavenly Father and not by the agenda of any human beings, even his family. However, the main point of this episode is that it reveals Jesus' glory. More specifically, the promised time of restoration is expressed in the imagery of marriage and of an abundance of wine. Here indeed is the one they have been waiting for. He himself is the good wine that has been kept back until now.