The Last Supper

Artist: Leonardo da Vinci

Museum Location: Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy
Presentation by: Ruthie Bowen
 Who is in the picture?

The figures in the painting are; from left to right: Bartholomew, James the Less,
Andrew, Judas, Peter, John, JESUS, Thomas, James the Greater, Philip,
Matthew, Thaddeus, & Simon.
Who is Leonardo da Vinci?
★ April 15, 1452 - May 2, 1519
★ Place of birth: Vinci, Italy
★ Place of death: Amboise, France
★ Painter, sculptor, inventor, and military
engineer, & draftsman
★ Studied laws of Nature and Science
★ Most famous for “Mona Lisa”,
“Vitruvian Man”, and “The Last
Supper”
★ Prominent figure of the Italian
Renaissance Era
Fun Facts about The Last Supper Painting
2. The spilled salt is symbolic.
1. "Last Supper" is a failed experiment.
★ There are many speculations about the
★ Renaissance masters painted on wet
symbolism of the spilled salt.
plaster walls.
★ The spilled salt container near Judas's elbow
★ Da Vinci experimented with tempera
could symbolize bad luck, loss, religion, or
paint on a dry, sealed plaster wall in
Jesus as salt of the earth.
the Santa Maria delle Grazie
monastery in Milan, Italy.
★ The experiment proved unsuccessful
since the paint didn’t adhere properly
& began to flake away a few decades
after the work was finished.
3. Eel or herring?
★ Whether the fish on the table is HERRING
or an EEL?
★ In Italian, the word for eel is "aringa." The
similar word, "arringa," means to
indoctrinate.
★ In northern Italian dialect, the word for
herring is "renga," which describes
someone who denies religion.
★ This fits Jesus' biblical prediction: the
apostle Peter would deny knowing him.
4. Three early copies of the original
exist.
★ Three of da Vinci's students
made copies of his painting early
in the 16th century. Giampietrino
did a full-scale copy that is now in
London's Royal Academy of Arts.
This oil painting on canvas was
the primary resource for the latest
restoration of the work.
★ The second copy by Solari is in
Belgium while the third copy by
Seis is in the Church of Saint
Ambrogio in Switzerland.
One more fact!

5. It has been repeatedly restored.

★ Da Vinci's masterpiece has been subject to numerous restoration attempts. Some of these took
place in 1726, 1770, 1853, 1903, 1924, 1928 and 1978.
Location
About the Painting

❖ It took three years to create

❖ Oil/tempera mix and applied it to drywall
❖ Destruction was caused in the 17th century, when a door was cut
into the bottom.
❖ Leonardo created the effect that the room in which Christ and the
apostles are seen was an extension of the refectory.
❖ The Last Supper takes up the basic theme (eating) of the purpose of
the refectory (a room used for communal meals).
❖ Leonardo used similar pictorial devices like other artists during that
century. Example: Masaccio’s Holy Trinity fresco, painted in the
church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence.
Biblical Reference
❖ The Last Supper is what we call the last meal Jesus ate with his disciples
before his betrayal and arrest.
❖ Canonical Gospels (Matthew 26:17–30; Mark 14:12–26; Luke 22:7–30,
John 13:1-17:26).
❖ Symbolizes the Passover meal
❖ Passover with new meaning, institute the New Covenant, established an
ordinance for the church, and foretell Peter’s denial of Him (Luke 22:34) and
Judas Iscariot’s betrayal (Matthew 26:21–24).
❖ Jesus’ command to remember what he was about to do on behalf of all
mankind: shed his blood on the cross thereby paying the debt of our sins
(Luke 22:19).
The Last Supper (Passover)
❖ Passover is the remembrance of Israel being freed from slavery to Egypt.
❖ Jesus explained that one of the twelve would soon betray him.
❖ Each disciple denied that it would be them (even Judas).
❖ He broke the bread & shared the wine.
❖ Explained how the bread was a symbol of his body, broken for them.
❖ The wine a symbol of his blood which would be poured out for their sins to be forgiven.
❖ Jesus became a servant & washed the feet of the disciples.
❖ Peter did not feel right having Jesus wash his feet & Jesus said that he was doing it to
be an example to them.
❖ Now the disciples would be able to wash each others feet, meaning they could be
servants to all.
Symbolism

❖ There are 4 sets of 3 apostles at the table

❖ There are four Gospels in the Bible
❖ Three is the number of the Trinity
❖ Judas clutches a $$ bag, foreshadowing his true character
❖ The landscape in the window, grayish, representing the common mood
Elements and Techniques

★ Aerial Perspective: painterly device, in which the

horizon’s colors become more dull and
colorless
★ Was used by Renaissance artists to create the
illusion of depth in landscape scenes.
★ Significant in painting: The room terminates at
three windows on end of wall and through the
windows we can see into a beautiful landscape
setting. The landscape in the background
terminates in a kind of misty, grayish horizon
Elements and Techniques
★ One-point linear perspective: intersecting lines that are
drawn vertically and horizontally and that radiate from
one point
★ The vanishing point is at Christ’s head (the orthogonals
can be seen by following the tops of the wall tapestries
or the coffers to where they intersect at Christ).
★ Framed by the pediment above and back-lit by the open
window behind.
★ Leonardo was keeping up with the innovative artistic
techniques developed early in the Quattrocento (The
period of art and architecture in Italy spanning
1400-1499)
Unique Renaissance Techniques

★ Leonardo’s painting focuses on composition &

perspective.
★ Captures a type of naturalism, which was unknown in
Italian art the previous century.
★ After The Last Supper was created, depicting scenes &
figures became a popular theme throughout the
Renaissance.
Naturalism

❖ Inspired by the lifelike accuracy of Classical

sculpture, a quality that had disappeared from
artistic representation during the Dark and Middle
Ages.
❖ Composed within an organized space where
overlapping figures suggested the illusion of depth
and constructed a narrative flow.
❖ How was naturalism depicted?
❖ Lifelike forms:
❖ Eye contact, expressions, postures & gestures
conveyed an unprecedented range of emotions.
Why is it famous?

❖ Leonardo has presented the biblical story in a way that had never been
seen before.
❖ Earlier versions of the same subject had shown Christ calmly
dispensing the Sacrament with the apostles sitting quietly in a row,
only Judas was segregated from the rest.
❖ Leonardo provided a scene of drama, movement, & excitement.
❖ Christ had just declared that one of the apostles would betray him, and
the disciples recoil and gesticulate in disbelief at the shocking
revelation.
Interpretations
Andy Warhol, Last Supper, 1986 Andy Warhol’s Last Supper (Dove), 1986
Interpretations
The Simpsons Ron English, Last Supper Icons, 2011
Links
Formal analysis:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XO0jPTrKmlp-9xBy_8FhP5ExLyNCda63DhUxQkCvCGc/edit?usp=s
haring

Summary of Article:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dcS6fm7hK3V9i1N8hGPgS9bFsAh3l60tFpCR-waQcXI/edit?usp=sh
aring

Article Link: https://global.oup.com/obso/focus/focus_on_lastsupper1/

Works Cited:
http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/art_movements/italian-renaissance/italian-renaissance-art-natu
ralism.htm
http://www.ifitshipitshere.com/over-60-fine-art-and-pop-culture-interpretations-of-da-vincis-the-last-supper/
http://www.italianrenaissance.org/a-closer-look-leonardo-da-vincis-last-supper/