Leonardo Da Vinci’s wall painting “Last Supper” (1495 – 1498) is at the forefront of the most famous, most recognizable and highly acclaimed works of art in the world. It still survives, following centuries of abuse and several recoveries, in the Dominican Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy.
The work was commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, who patronized Leonardo in 1495 and took three years for the artist to complete. This is the largest of many paintings depicting the final supper in the New Testament of the Bible: Jesus’ meal with his disciples where he proclaims that one of them would betray him.
In the early Renaissance, works of art were heavily influenced by religion, especially Christianity. Paintings from the last supper were not uncommon, and yet Da Vinci’s drawing, from the moment it was finished in 1498 and through the ensuing centuries, was published as a masterpiece, praised by critics and artists alike . Many factors contributed to this, including the artist himself being one of the greatest of old art masters. It was also about how it worked and the impact it produced at the “Last Supper”. One of the reasons for the great praise is his powerful and dramatic details of the occasion – the revelation of Christ and the way in which all apostles responded to him. Every gesture, every facial expression is detailed to match the character of each of the 13 men in the scene. It took so long to do because of Da Vinci’s particular way of working, including the way he searched around Milan studying faces to find the right model to use for each character.
Assistant Editor in the Britannica Encyclopedia Alicja Zelazko wrote about the details of the carefully drawn “Last Supper”. It depicts the dramatic scene described in ‘several closely related moments in the Gospels, including Matthew 26: 21–28, where Jesus declares that one of the Apostles will betray him and establish’ r Communion later ”, he wrote. According to Da Vinci’s belief that posture, posture, and expression should manifest “thoughts of the mind,” all 12 pupils respond in a way that Da Vinci considered appropriate for that man’s personality. The result is a complex study of diverse human emotion, rendered in a deceptively simple composition.
“The scene is not a frozen moment but rather a representation of successive moments. Jesus has declared his impending betrayal, and the Apostles respond. Philip, standing in the group to the left of Jesus, gestures to himself and seems to be saying, ‘Am I not, Lord?’ Jesus seems to answer, ‘The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me’ (Matthew 26:23). At the same time, Jesus and Judas, sitting with the group to the right of Jesus, arrive at the same dish on the table between them, an act that identifies Judas as the betrayer. Jesus also gestures towards a glass of wine and a piece of bread, suggesting the establishment of the Holy Communion ritual, ”he wrote.
This play characterizes the painting and elevates it from many similar paintings on the canteen walls of monasteries and nunneries, and the imitations that followed it. Da Vinci is an artist of several other paintings that has gained equal fame and praise around the word over time. The “Mona Lisa” (1503) is highly regarded and one of the most well-known among great paintings. No face is better known in any painting worldwide than that of “La Giaconda” – the portrait is also known by its history. It is said to be a commissioned portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of prominent merchant Francesco del Giocondo. Another is “Salvator Mundi” (1500) which was said to set the record for the highest price paid for a painting at auction. Note that this is another on the common Christian theme, focused as it is on the savior of the world, though there is nothing in common about it.
“Last Supper” has never failed throughout the 523 years of its creation, to be recognized as one of the best ever, with commendations also coming from fellow artists like Rembrandt. Among the most valuable quotes was one by the exceptional author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. She was the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft who wrote a feminist essay in 1797, the wife of the Romantic poet Percy Shelley and the author of the remarkable novel Frankenstein, a work of fiction long before its time. A genius himself, he recognized genius when he described her impressions of seeing the painting in “Ramblings in Germany and Italy” (1844).
“We first visited Leonardo da Vinci’s indirect fade. How vain are copies! Not in one, nor in any print, have I ever seen the slightest attitude to the expression in the face of our Savior, as it is in the original. Majesty and love – these are the words he would describe – joined in the absence of every deception that expresses the divine nature more visibly than I have ever seen in any other picture. ”(Mary Shelley, Travel Writing, retrieved from Wikipedia).
The painting has survived what Zelazko called “centuries of abuse” over the years, which contributed to a decline in the original texture of the work. Note that in 1844 Shelley called it “the immutable freshness freshness”. He has undergone several restoration works, especially just after World War II and in 1999, when the most extensive restoration was carried out during that time the wall painting was closed out of public view for 20 years.
So this masterpiece lives to proclaim the glory of art, and as a worthy representative of Renaissance art and the genius of an old master, the remarkable Leonardo Da Vinci. This revisit of it may appeal to Easter celebrants, whose painting is studied in detail.