Myers 1

Shannon Myers
T. Martinelli
ART 2.2
3/13/14
The Difference Between The Last Suppers
When someone mentions the painting of The Last Supper you automatically think of
Leonardo Da Vincis painting that is in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie,
Milan. But there is another artist who had done a painting of The Last Supper. This artist's
name was Castagno. Castagno had done his painting about 50 years before Leonard did his.
There are multiple similarities in the paintings and at the same time there are quite a few
differences that give each painting different perspectives.
Starting with Castagnos depiction of The Last Supper, there are noticeable differences,
starting with how the room is set. First the table and the figures in the painting are composed in
a way that makes it look like there is depth and distance to where the table stands. Also in
Castagnos there are panels that line the wall and that are all different colors and texture is made
to look like marble. Castagno did a fantastic job capture the look of all the textures in the rooms
decoration. It is almost as if you could reach into the painting and feel the marble that panels on
the wall were made of. These panels imply that Castagno wanted to give his piece an authentic
Roman feel to it, because these panels were generally how the Romans decorated their big
dining halls or upper rooms.
Another distinct difference is that the disciples that surround Jesus are spaced out almost
as if they are their own composition or that they all just needed their own space after hearing the
news that Jesus gave them about one of them betraying him. At the same time that Castagno

Myers 2
was showing the disciples in their own space he also achieved a certain balance to the
composition that probably would not have been there otherwise. This spacing let Castagno show
each disciple in their own grief, his own devotions and each weighed down by the revelation of
the troubles that were coming upon them.
One of the stylistic features in this painting that is different for Leonardo Da Vincis is
that Castagno used halos over the figures in his paintings. He did this for two reasons, the first
was because it was a stylistic for the time and the second was because he used this as one of the
two ways to differentiate Judas the Betrayer from the other disciples.
The other way that Castagno differentiated Judas was that he placed him on the opposite
side of the table from all the other figures. Judas sits in the painting directly across from Jesus,
St. John and St. Peter. This was not an unusual way to distinguish Judas from the other
disciples, because in fifteenth century it was generally how the distinction was made.
The colors in the panel above Christ have some symbolism to them the way the colors
converge and mix, they also add some pink to the color of the robes that Jesus is wearing. It was
interesting that Castagno placed the the protagonists of the drama in from of this panel it was
almost as if he wanted to highlight them so that they would be more noticeable.
In Castagnos composition it was interesting to see that unlike in Da Vincis although the
figures were all in different positions there was no movement in the composition. It is as if the
figures were frozen in time. However when the figures are shown in detail you can see that
Jesuss hands are raised as if bestowing a blessing, St. John with crossed hands and the Judass
hands raised in doubt. These movements are not shown in motion but stopped, this was done so
that Castagno could show that the news of the betrayer was so overpowering that everything in
the painting had to stop.

Myers 3
The different textures in this piece were done well, for example the wall next to the table
on either side there are tiles that are place are perfectly lined up. They create a texture that has a
feel of realism. In contrast to the realism that the texture provides the lighting of the piece
whereas it is good, it give the piece a not-so-real feel to it because all the colors and figures are
clearly seen. If Castagno wanted to created a realism as real as his textures he should have
added more shadowing to the piece. This would have allowed for some better modeling of the
figures and would have given the piece another light source rather than one source that was not
straight on the figures.
Moving on to Leonardos portrayal of The Last Supper, this piece was painted almost
fifty years after Castagnos Last Supper. Leonardo more than likely used Castagnos piece as
model and as an influence for his. Leonardos piece is much more advanced and very complex
in comparison.
The first biggest difference is in the composition itself. It is set is a room that uses linear
perspective and the vanishing point is right center of Jesus and it progresses behind him. The
second is that Leonardo did not use halos around any of the disciples like Castagno did. If
viewer did not realize it, the viewer of the piece would think that there is not a halo around
Jesus either, but there is. If you look up above the head of Jesus there is an arch above the
window the arch was meant to act as a halo for him. The other big difference in the composition
is that all the disciples are put in groups of three and that Judas is mixed in with them. Having
the disciples in groups like this made Jesus the center of attention. Judas is able to be picked out
of the group and you can find him because he clutches a money bag and sits close to Jesus.
Leonardo was progressing at this point in his career where he was finally understanding
complex compositions, and it shows in this piece as you see the grouping of the disciples. As

Myers 4
the first group on the right responds to the news that one of the disciple will betray Jesus there is
almost a shift in the painting itself as most of them rise from their seats and start trying to figure
out who will be the Betrayer and discussing what to do about it, but as you move to the next
group the is a shift in the painting to the other direction as two of the disciples lean away from
each other. One of the most extraordinary and important part of this composition is the sense of
movement that Leonardo provided to this piece, because it really draws the viewer into it almost
like the viewer is there watching the scene unfold.
Leonardo did an amazing job of creating a light source.This allowed him to give a sense
of realism through modeling so that the figures in his painting have a three dimensional feel to
them. The light source is subtle but you can tell its the by the way the figures appear with now
harsh light but with an natural light look to it. It also creates a greater sense of realism that few
of and before this time had mastered and it differed from Castagnos by the way the light falls
into the piece. Through the use of the light the room gains a sense of depth to it as well.
The depth of the room as mentioned before comes from a vanishing point that goes to
Jesus.This creates some depth in the room and allowed leonardo to show the rest of the room
off. so as the room falls into the picture you see the walls behind Jesus and the disciples. On the
walls there are big black blank squares, it was believed that these were to be filled with images
of the land and town, or another common belief is that they were to be filled with other biblical
stories.
The colors in Leonardo's painting are slightly muted, but this was not intentional. This
piece was constructed with oil paints on plaster and this has proved over time to not be durable.
Castagnos has lasted because it was a fresco painting, which is similar to what Leonardo did but
the difference is that when Castagno constructed his he did so when the plaster was wet .

Myers 5
Whereas how Leonardo did when the plaster was dry. There have been many attempt the
reconstruct and restore this piece but they all for the most part have caused the piece more harm
then good. It has cause the colors to fade and some of the detail to be wiped away. The last
restoration of The Last Supper was completed in 1998.
With all the differences between these two pieces it is amazing to see how much art had
changed in only fifty years. It was also amazing to see all the changes in the understanding of
anatomy and perspective. Where both of the artist mastered their composition. they both
incorporated new ideas into their work which added more to their compositions.

Myers 6
Works Cited
1) Horster, Marita. "The Last Supper." Andrea Del Castagno. By Horster. New York:
Cornell University Press, 1980. 24-25. Print.
2) Marani, Pietro C. "The Last Supper and the Sforza Monument." Leonardo Da Vinci.
By Marani. Ed. Pietro C. Marani and Edoardo Villata. New York: Harry N.
Abrams, INC, 2000. 221-45. Print.
3) Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael W. Cothren. Art History. Vol. 2. New Jersey:
Pearson Education, Inc, 2011. Print.