Artistic Release

“The Last Supper”… Leonardo da Vinci

I’m not here to argue the theories behind what most scholars consider the most famous religious painting of all time… Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”. However, the theories even considered controversies were considered long before the book and recent movie… “The DaVinci Code” came out. In 1497, Fray Augustin Leyre, a Dominican Inquisitor and expert on the interpretation of secret messages, was sent to supervise Leonardo da Vinci’s last touches to The Last Supper painting. He was sent by Alejandro VI who had heard that da Vinci was painting the twelve apostles without their halo of sanctity, that the chalice was missing, and that Leonardo had painted himself in the painting with his back to Jesus. This could have sent him to the inquisition. Why then did he do this? Was Leonardo da Vinci a heretic? Who knows? One thing we do know… he was a great artist, sculptor, and inventor. Enough about Leonardo… Here are some interesting facts about his famous painting…

~ The Last Supper is a mural painting by Leonardo da Vinci for his patron Duke Lodovico Sforza.

~ The Last Supper was painted on a wall of the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan between 1495 and 1498. It was painted on a dry wall rather than on wet plaster, so it is not a true fresco. It measures 14 feet by 30 feet…. 13′ 10″ x 29′ 7 1/2″ to be exact.

~ Leonardo began work on The Last Supper in 1495 and completed this monumental masterpiece in only three years in 1498.

~ The Last Supper began to acquire its reverential reputation as soon as it was finished, even though the painting began to rapidly deteriorate. Leonardo refused to work in fresco, so he tried an experimental technique to paint on the wall of the monk’s refectory. The experiment failed and humidity in the room caused the paint to start flaking as soon as 1517. By 1586 it could hardly even be seen.

~ In 1652 the monks decided to cut a doorway through the center of the painting because it had so seriously deteriorated that they determined it was no longer worth saving, resulting in the feet of Jesus and part of the table being destroyed in the process.

~ In 1796 the room was used by French troops as a stable. Despite orders from Napoleon that the masterpiece not be damaged in any way, soldiers took to throwing clay at the faces of the Apostles.

~ In 1800 a flood covered the entire painting. Green mold had to be removed from its surface.

~ In 1901 Gabriele D’Annunzio wrote what was considered to be the last of its several epitaphs in his famous Ode on the Death of a Masterpiece… “O Poets, it is no longer”.

~ It has under gone several renovations through the centuries… Because of this it cannot be certain whether the faces still resemble Leonardo’s original painting; at least one (Thomas) definitely differed from the original at least until the restoration which finished in 1999. During the last restoration from 1979-1999, one of the most large-scale in history, a lot of color-levels from former restorations were removed.

~ In 1943 a WWII air raid reduced the monastery to rubble; miraculously, The Last Supper, protected by sandbags on the rear wall, survived. (Pictured above)

~ The monastery was restored and the painting can be seen in its original setting. (Pictured above)

Virtual tour of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci and the Santa Maria delle Grazie Church. 

Primary Source:  The World of Leonardo 1452 - 1519. Time Life Library of Art, Time Life Books, 1966

In my opinion, the hoop-a-la about all the symbolism within this fine painting can only be summed up as conjecture. As far as how Christ was portrayed in the book and movie… that’s another story which I will close by sharing with you this scripture… Matthew 24: 23-28.

Another cool site… The truth about Da Vinci.com…

Thanks for looking… as always… your comments are welcome.

Bernie