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Garofalo painted The Marriage at Cana for the refectory of the Monastery of San Bernardino at Ferrara where, according to a vow he had taken, he worked free of charge for some years. In 1792 the painting was acquired by Pope Pius VI for his family palace in Rome.
The subject is Christ's first miracle: at the marriage feast at Cana in Galilee at which Christ was a guest, when the wine began to run out He ordered them to fill the jugs with water which He then turned into wine . The idealized images, the clear grouping of figures and particularly the powerful arches in the background are evidence of the influence of Raphael, above all the School of Athens fresco in the Vatican.