by Loksze Wong

Leonardo da Vinci’s mural painting “the Last Supper” is a well-known Christian work of art. It is described as “Final meal shared by Jesus Christ and his disciples in Jerusalem during or just before Passover, in the course of which Jesus instituted the Christian Eucharist.” (The Columbia Encyclopedia) The painting illustrates the situation when Jesus and His twelve apostles are having dinner together, and it reveals the relationship between each one of them. The dinner took place right before the date of Jesus’s crucifixion; and the meal was an anticipation of Jesus’s death and of the eschatological banquet, which the bread symbolizes Jesus’s body and the wine symbolizes Jesus’s blood, is to remember the Lord, Jesus Christ. The Christian text, the Biblestates a prediction about Jesus that He will die for the world. In addition, it also contains a record of Jesus’s sacrifice for everyone in the world, including His apostles, sinful and flawed people. According to J. Carter Brown, the director of National Gallery of Art in Washington, “His (Leonardo) innovation lies in the intensity of psychological analysis of each participant in the drama” (Studies for the Last Supper, 9). Therefore, the Last Supper is a significant work of art because of the exploration of human psychology in painting, artistic appreciation, historical importance, and religious purposes.

The origin of this piece of art was in Milan, Italy, and it was placed on a wall of the refectory of the Convent Dominican friars at Santa Maria delle Grazie. It has become one of the major masterpieces of Italian Renaissance Art. The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Olivetti, Carlo De Benedetti stated that the Last Supper is “a work whose significance has grown over the centuries, which has become…one of the highest expressions of universal art, almost one of the symbols, or the symbol, of the magnitude of the image of man bequeathed to the future by the Renaissance” (Benedetti, 8). The Renaissance was a period of great cultural change and achievement in art, starting from the end of the 13^th century to the 16^th century. The “rebirth of Art Science… represents the pinnacle of artistic achievement, revived and confidently executed after a thousand years in the wilderness.” (Italian Renaissance Art) Some influential artists of the Italian Renaissance are Giotto, Botticelli, Donatello, Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Piero Della Francesca, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci.

The work of art, the Last Supper “was made using experimental pigments directly on the dry plaster wall and unlike frescos, where the pigments are mixed with the wet plaster” (JayDax Computer Information Centre). It measures 450 × 870 centimeters (15 feet × 29 feet) and covers the end of the wall of the dining hall at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. The artist used a medium containing oil and varnish. The wall was damp and the painting was deteriorating once he painted it. Yet, Leonardo da Vinci’s sfumato technique was represented in the painting through the use of creating atmosphere and depth which developed the dimensions of both the environment and people. On the other hand, the fresco takes place where Jesus has the last supper with His apostles when His apostles are in disbelief. Leonardo painted with details, such as the food, cups, glasses, wine, plates, light, the positions and the expressions of people, etc. The people who were portrayed in the painting are Bartholomew, James Minor, Andrew, Peter, Judas, John, Jesus, Thomas, James Major, Philip, Matthew, Thaddeus, and Simon the Canaanite. In the celebration of the eve of Passover, Jesus and His twelve apostles sat beside the table and had a dinner together to celebrate the important day. The thirteen people gathering to eat together was their last supper and it “represented the moment of communion, a moment of calm in which each apostle might wish to sit alone with his thoughts” (Clark, 19). At the table Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me- one who is earing with me.” (Mark 14:18) “Immediately this row of quiet individuals is unified by emotion.” (Clark, 19 ). Another technique was used throughout the painting:

‘the variety of gesture which Leonardo has given to the disciples, and the way in which the effect of these gestures is enhanced by contrast; how, for example, the rough impetuous Peter, pugnaciously eager to declare his innocence, contrasts with the resigned St John, content to sit quietly, because he knows that no one will suspect him, and how St Peter’s hand, forming a bridge between the heads of St John and Judas, underlines the contrasts between innocence and villainy’ (Clark, 20)

As Jesus told His disciples that one of them will betray him even though He did not say directly that the man would be Judas, all the apostles did not know who in the group will betray Jesus which creates a suspicious atmosphere; the human feelings and emotion were portrayed in the Last Supper.