THE LAST SUPPER by Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest geniuses of all time, he was also a prolific and eclectic painter. Among his most outstanding creations are The Mona Lisa, the Vitruvian Man and the work that concerns us, The Last Supper. This work from the end of the 15th century has managed to arouse the interest and admiration of the public and critics of all times. Its dimensions, its composition, the enigmatic atmosphere that Leonardo created, as well as the many unknowns that he left hidden in his work are some of the peculiarities that have been discussed and studied by more raised.

In this lesson from a TEACHER we offer you a analysis of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci so that you can enjoy an excellent work of art, know its history and understand its aesthetic and formal qualities, its historical context and its technical characteristics.

Index

1. Description and context of The Last Supper
2. Formal Analysis of The Last Supper (Da Vinci)
3. Stylistic analysis of The Last Supper

Is work of Leonardo da Vinci is considered as one of his masterpieces and one of the most important in the history of art. In it is represented one of the most iconic scenes in the New Testament: the last supper of Jesus Christ with the twelve Apostles, just the moment in which Jesus communicates to his disciples that one of them is going to betray them.

An episode that appears collected in the gospels from Matthew 26: 21-5 and 26-8, Mark 14: 18-20 and 22-4, Luke 22: 15-16 and 17-20 and John 13: 2. A moment full of drama that Da Vinci shows us with all the intensity of the reactions that arouse in each of the apostles, in addition to offer us the representation of the first Eucharist, the sacrament of the consecration of bread and wine, representing the body and blood of Christ.

This work is located in the refectory of the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, the space in which the monks ate, forming part of the daily life of the temple. This mural was commissioned from Leonardo da Vinci by Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, in the year 1495. The mural would have dimensions of 4.6 m x 8.8 m for the Dominican convent of Santa María delle Grazie in Milan, being part of the renovation works of the building.

The reason for the work was specified by himself Sforza who wanted me to paint the Last Supper of Jesus according to the Gospel of John. But Da Vinci, instead of a static representation of the moment painting all the protagonists seated at the table, decided to represent the moment of the revelation of Jesus and emphasize the reaction of each of the figures.

Image: Google Sites

We started the analysis of The Last Supper of Leonardo Da Vinci attending to the form.

It's about a mural made on wet plaster with the dry or dry method, something unusual in this type of work, as the traditional technique of good fresco painting is more recommendable. Specialists consider that Leonardo, with a tendency to embark on many tasks at the same time, must have thought that working on dry plaster could not worry about the deadlines and the drying of the materials. In addition, in this way it would also be possible for him to add details and use his most common painting techniques: the chiaroscuro, the sfumato or blurred shadows and the linear perspective.

However, this decision was not the right one, since The Last Supper deteriorated greatly. Da Vinci, who completed the mural in 1498, found that shortly after delivering it, the mural had already begun this process of deterioration. Dry frescoes are very delicate and tempera oil, a technique adopted by Leonardo, is not exactly the most suitable technique as the oil paint does not absorb the plaster. This situation required restorations from the first moment, considering the specialists that, today, between 18% and 20% of the original painting is preserved.

Thus, the work has been restored about 20 times and survived the Allied bombing raids on the city of Milan during the Second World War, on August 14, 1943.

In this analysis of The Last Supper let's now talk about the style of it.

Theme of the artwork

Its composition is novel when treating a traditional theme like the Lord's Supper arranging the apostles in front of the viewer, correcting the problem of how to paint the disciples' halos if their backs are turned. Thus, Leonardo includes traditional elements such as Judas's bag or Peter's knife, but has the apostles on the same side of the table, somewhat unrealistic, but which was already a canonical arrangement at that time, since it was thus represented in the cenacles of Florence

The organization of the apostles

Leonardo too organized the apostles into groups of three, the representative number of the Holy Trinity.

1. Thus, from left to right, the first group consists of Bartolomé, Santiago el Menor and Andrés they have surprise on their face.
2. In the second group there are three main characters, Peter, with an angry face, Juan, who looks at the ground or seems to be asleep - a character that some interpret as feminine and identifiable with María Magdalena-, and Judas Iscariot, who, surprised, appears almost with his back to the viewer and throws a salt shaker with his elbow and with the bag of coins that testify to his betrayal.
3. The third group is made up of Tomás, Santiago el Mayor and Felipe, next to Jesus Christ and with faces and gestures and unbelief. The whole is closed Mateo, Judas Tadeo and Simón Zelote, who talk to each other commenting on what Jesus just said.

By printing a facial expression to each apostle, Leonardo innovates and for this he performs numerous and intense physiognomic studies to obtain represent those emotions and the movement of heads and faces.

Composition of Da Vinci's painting

Regarding composition, Leonardo places the center in the figure of Jesus Christ, highlighting his prominence and following the own linear perspective of Renaissance. All the perspective lines converge in it and to achieve depth, the painter opens three windows in the background, generating both that feeling of depth and a backlight effect.

On the other hand, as the figure of Jesus has outstretched arms and an expression of serenity, he also becomes a point of balance. Finally, the representation of a classical architectural space it also contributes to creating the feeling of extension or insertion of the work in the refectory space.

The back windows are also a typical Renaissance resource, being widely used by Leonardo. Thus, in addition to achieving spatial depth, the windows also constituted a point of light that further highlights the figure of Jesus and avoids Leonardo having to paint the halos of the apostles.

Philosophy of The Last Supper

In The Last Supper, Leonardo would have captured his philosophical conception of the Platonic triad, that is, the values ​​of Truth, Goodness and Beauty, following the line of the Florentine Platonic Academy, Ficino and Mirandola. A school of thought that tried to reconcile Christian doctrine with Plato's philosophy. Thus, it is considered that the last group on the right, the one made up of Mateo, Judas Tadeo and Simón Zelote, it would represent Plato, Ficino and Leonardo himself arguing about the true nature of Christ.

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• Isaacson, Walter (2018). Leonardo da Vinci. Debate
• VVAA. (2010). Leonardo Da Vinci, life and work. Tikal