The Last Supper

● Function
● Style, Chronology and Location
● Title and theme
● Biography of the author
● Size and technique used for the
painting
● General Features
● History of painting

Index: ● Importance of the painting at its time

and in the history of art
● Artworks which have influenced The
Last Supper
● Influence in later artworks
● Promoters of the work, characters and
iconography
● Interesting aspects and curiosities
Function:

The Last Supper was supposed to capture the emotions of each of

the apostles when they hear that one of them is planning to betray
Jesus. It also functions to represent how calm and powerful Jesus is
compared to the chaos and feelings of humans.
Style, Chronology and Location:
The Last Supper was created in the fifteenth century between the years 1494 and 1498. This
artwork was painted in the city of Milan in Italy, commissioned by Ludovico Sforza so as to
decorate a large wall in the church of Santa Maria delle _
Thanks. It has an Italian Renaissance style, more
specifically the Quattrocento style. The Renaissance is a
historical period in which many social, cultural and artistic
changes took place in Western Europe. The Quattrocento
period was developed in Florence, characterized by
anthropocentrism and the revival of Antiquity.
Title and theme:

For Catholic believers, The Last Supper

marks the institution of the Eucharist as a
symbol of communion between Christians
and Christ. The name indicates that this will
be Jesus' last supper, as he knows someone
will betray him.
Biography of the author (Childhood and training):
Leonardo da Vinci was born on the 15th of April in 1452 in the city of Vincy, in Italy. His father was Ser Piero da Vinci
and his mother was Caterina.

There isn't much known about Leonardo's childhood. We do know however that around the age of 14, he became a
garzone in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, at the time one of the best painters and sculptors. Later, at the age
of 17, he became an apprentice and learned about theoretical training and a lot of technical skills, such as chemistry,
mechanics, woodwork, etc...
Apart from that, he also learned the artistic skills of drawing, painting,
sculpting and modeling.

At a young age, Leonardo's own observations and artworks were

influenced by some popular artists of the period such as Donatello,
Ghiberti, Piero della Francesca, etc...

His earliest known dated work was a 1473 pen-and-ink drawing of

the Arno valley.
 Biography of the author (Adult life):
In his adult life, he was commissioned on many occasions to create various artworks:

In 1483: painting of the Virgin of the Rocks for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception.

In the spring of 1485: Leonardo traveled to Hungary on behalf of Sforza to meet king Matthias
Corvinus, so as to paint a Madonna.

In 1495: painting of The Last Supper for the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie.

In October of 1503: Leonardo had begun working on a portrait of Lisa del

Giocondo, the model for the Mona Lisa.

Leonardo finally died at Clos Lucé on 2 May 1519 at the age of 67.
Size and technique used for the painting:

The Last Supper is a painting of monumental size, at 4.60 meters high and 8.80
meters wide.

Leonardo painted it using oil painting instead of using the common technique of
the time, which was the fresco since, as a painter, he favored oil painting for a
number of reasons. Firstly, this medium allows him to work slowly and make
changes with ease, something which is difficult to do with fresco painting.
Leonardo also sought a level of luminosity and intensity of light and shade that
couldn't be achieved with fresco. When it came to painting The Last Supper, he
painted it on a wall sealed with a double layer of gesso, pitch, and mastic. Then,
borrowing from panel painting, he added an undercoat of white lead to enhance
the brightness of the oil and tempera that was applied on top.
 General Features:
● It used linear perspective and ● The entire painting is
sfumato with the landscape in symmetrical (since the
the background to frame the characters are distributed
scene and the characters proportionally behind the long
sharing dinner. table, with the twelve apostles,
● six to each part of Jesus
● The lines of the side windows Christ) and follow
and the coffered ceilings meet at mathematical patterns, this
a vanishing point above the has been done to maintain
head of Christ. proportions and create an
effect of stability.
● The light is distributed in a
diffuse way, although there are
areas that are more illuminated
than others to give a sensation
of depth and volume to the
bodies.
● In the center, the character of
Jesus Christ has a triangular
composition and is isolated from
the rest.
History of painting:

The Last Supper was commissioned by Sforza to decorate a wall in Santa Maria delle Grazie which was being rebuilt as a family
mausoleum. The painting took 3 years to be completed, from 1495 to 1498.

In the years after the painting was completed, it began to deteriorate. This was because the building in which the painting was held had
walls which were filled with moisture-retaining rubble and, since the painting was done on a thin exterior wall, the effects of humidity
were felt quickly as the paint failed to properly adhere to it. . For the next 250 years, multiple restoration attempts would be done, but
none would work since the painting was still deteriorating and multiple events such as wars, revolutions and natural disasters kept it in a
ruined state.
By the late 1970s, the painting's appearance had deteriorated badly and, from 1978
to 1999, Pinin Brambilla Barcilon guided a major restoration project to stabilize it and
reverse the damage caused over the last hundreds of years. To do this, the room in
which the painting was contained was converted to a climate-controlled
environment. Then, a detailed study was undertaken to determine the painting's
original form using scientific tests. Some areas were deemed unrestorable so they
were re-painted using watercolor.
Importance of the painting at its time and in the history of art:

The importance of the painting from the moment of its creation was a series of elements and techniques that will be taken into
account for the creation of later works:
- In Milan, large formats were not painted until the arrival of this work.
- Until then, the different works that represented the Last Supper only staged the act of eating at dinner, but Da Vinci's work
also introduces the moment in which he says that one of the apostles is going to betray him.
- The composition, as it gives movement to the work grouping the apostles three by three. To visually organize all this
chaos of altered men and achieve a certain balance, he separates the disciples into symmetrical groups of three and
encloses Jesus Christ in a perfect triangle, the most stable geometric shape that exists.
- Use of perspective: linear (with the vanishing point located right in the center, in the head of Jesus Christ), aerial (which
blurs the elements of the landscape and dyes them light blue as they move away), and hierarchical (the characters are
more or less large depending on their importance).
- Realism of the objects and food on the table.
- Psychology captured by the characters.
- They had never seen such a realistic “fresco”, with such brilliant colors and vivid figures (of course, because it was not a
fresco, but an oil painting).
Artworks which have influenced The Last Supper:

The works carried out in Florence around the theme of the cenacles are among the most impressive and surprising in the History of Art. The term
"cenacle" can be translated to dining room. The idea comes, within the Christian context, from the place where Jesus and the twelve apostles celebrated
the last supper.

During the time of the Italian Renaissance, the representation of the Last Supper in the cenacles or refectories of the convents became one of the most
important and represented episodes of the moment. We must bear in mind that the religious orders were of great importance in the society of the time, so
we should not be surprised by the great scenes created by the hands of great Renaissance artists. It is during the fourteenth century authors such as
Andrea Orcagna or Taddeo Gaddi began to give the first to fix some of the characteristics of the theme:

● Judas in front of the table, separated from the rest of the apostles

● Saint John the Evangelist asleep in the lap of the Lord

● Choice of two moments: the mystery of the Eucharist and the betrayal

Bit by bit, the theme developed along with the artistic techniques, mentioning that one from Andrea del Castagno (1445-1450) in the refectory of the
convent of Santa Apolonia, or the one by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1480) which is in the refectory of the Ognissanti Convent in Borgo Ognissanti.
Influence in later artworks:

After it’s creation, many other artists were inspired by this work:

● Portrait of a Woman (1525), made by Bernardino Luini, whose face of the woman's portrait is wrapped in a
sfumato.
● Virgin with Child (1485-1490), made by Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, the Virgin wears a green velvet dress,
rendered with great realism.
● Epiphany (1500), made by Bramantino, in his work he had implemented a careful style with the poses, gestures
and the movement of heads and looks of the characters.

In addition to these works, many painters such as Lorenzo Lotto, Titian or Caravaggio repeat and recreate the faces,
gestures or attitudes of the characters of The Last Supper in some of their works.

Even in the 20th century, we can still find painters who have created works that have been influenced by The Last
Supper, some of these painters are Edgar Degas, William Blake or Andy Warhol just to name a few.
Promoters of the work, characters and iconography:

The promoter of The Last Supper was Leonardo da Vinci.

In this work the twelve apostles (Bartholomew, James the Less, Andrew, Judas
Iscariot, Simon Peter, John, Jesus Christ, Thomas, James the Greater, Philip,
Matthew, Judas Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot) and Jesus Christ appear at a
table.

The iconography of The Last Supper usually takes the form of the religious
scene where everyone in the frame is seen arguing with each other to see who
is going to betray Jesus. We can also see Judas, the third character to his right
holding a bag of money with 30 silver coins, which was the money he got for
betraying him.
Interesting aspects and curiosities:
- Apart from the original version, there are also three different versions which were painted at
the same time. One of the copies, made by Giampietrino is now in London's Royal Academy
of arts; another copy, made by Andrea Solari is in the Leonardo da Vinci Museum in Belgium;
the last copy, made by Cesare da Sesto is in the Church of Saint Ambrogio in Switzerland.
- In the painting, there isn't any bread or wine contradicting what happened in the Bible.
- The apostle John which can be seen to the right of Jesus,
might actually be a woman called María Magdalena since his
face looks more like a woman's.
- To paint the face of Judas, Leonardo visited some prisons to
get inspiration.
That's all!