Italy

We’re in the Reinassance, in particular this painting has been realized in 1498 by Leonardo Da Vinci, one of the most important artists of the period. Leonardo wasn’t just an artist, he was an inventor, sculptor, engineer, and scientist too. You may have heard about other works he realized, such as the famous Vitruvian Man or the iconic Mona Lisa.

In 1482 he worked in Milan, for the duke of the city Ludovico Sforza, who commissioned him this work.

As you know, we’re in the refectory of Saint Mary of Grace, and this is The Last Supper. This famous biblical episode is told in the Gospel (vangelo).

Several artists painted it before, but why Leonardo’s one is so famous and so important? Because Leonardo, differently then the previous artists, chose to paint the precise moment when Jesus announces that someone is going to betray him. In fact other artists always represented the moment of the Eucharist, so they focused on the religious meaning and not on the human one, as Leonrado did first. Other innovative elements he brought are:

● the first thing to notice is the “Perspective Fiction” Leonardo made, as the room in the painting seems the continuum of the room we’re in.

● the rendering of bodies details, thanks to the shadows and the use of chiaroscuro;

● the fact that Jesus is not represented with the halo, which makes the scene much more realistic and concrete, even if He’s still lighted up by the window on the background (notice that the biggest one is the one right behind Jesus).

● the use of the geometric perspective, that perfectly gives us the idea of the depht of the room;

You can see that Jesus is of course in the centre, and the vanishing point of the perspective is right on his head. His expression looks relaxed, as he has already accepted his destiny; Judas is the fourth character on the left. We recognize him because he’s the only one who doesn’t Interact with the others, then also because he’s in the foreground, there’s a shadow on his face and he’s holding a bag full of money. In all the other characters it’s easy to notice their anxiety and movement: everyone starts asking each other who the betrayer could ever be, and they all have different expressions and positions, as a reaction for what Jesus just told them: it’s a demonstration of Leonardo’s talent to represent realistic figures with their behaviours.

The painting is very damaged because it’s made of oil tempera, so it’s not a fresco: Da Vinci used this technique because he used to be very slow in his work, and to paint a fresco he should have been very fast. In fact it took him six years to realize this masterpiece you can admire today.