The Last Gathering

by Belinda Low

Original - Not For Sale

Price

Not Specified

Dimensions

60.000 x 48.000 x 0.500 inches

Title

The Last Gathering

Artist

Belinda Low

Medium

Painting - Oil On Canvas

Description

SOLD - Commissioned work
What a way to kickstart the new year!
Duration = 80 hours
The Last Supper (Leonardo)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Last Supper
Italian: Il Cenacolo
Última Cena - Da Vinci 5.jpg
Artist Leonardo da Vinci
Year c. 1495–1498
Type Tempera on gesso, pitch, and mastic
Movement High Renaissance
Dimensions 460 cm × 880 cm (181 in × 346 in)
Location Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan
Coordinates: 45°28′00″N 9°10′15″E
Website https://cenacolovinciano.org/en/
The Last Supper (Italian: Il Cenacolo [il tʃeˈnaːkolo] or L'Ultima Cena [ˈlultima ˈtʃeːna]) is a mural painting by the Italian High Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1495–1498. The painting represents the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus with the Twelve Apostles, as it is told in the Gospel of John – specifically the moment after Jesus announces that one of his apostles will betray him.[1] Its handling of space, mastery of perspective, treatment of motion and complex display of human emotion has made it one of the Western world's most recognizable paintings and among Leonardo's most celebrated works.[2] Some commentators consider it pivotal in inaugurating the transition into what is now termed the High Renaissance.[3][4]

The work was commissioned as part of a plan of renovations to the church and its convent buildings by Leonardo's patron Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. In order to permit his inconsistent painting schedule and frequent revisions, it is painted with materials that allowed for regular alterations: tempera on gesso, pitch, and mastic. Due to the methods used, a variety of environmental factors, and intentional damage, little of the original painting remains today despite numerous restoration attempts, the last being completed in 1999. Housed in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy, The Last Supper is his largest work, aside from the Sala delle Asse.


Contents
1 Painting
1.1 Commission and creation
1.2 Medium
1.3 Subject
2 History
2.1 Early copies
2.2 Damage and restorations
2.2.1 Major restoration
3 In culture
3.1 Non-modern painting, mosaic, and photography
3.2 Modern art
3.3 Literature
3.4 Film and television
4 Other speculation
5 Notes
6 References
7 Bibliography
8 Further reading
9 External links
Painting
Commission and creation
The Last Supper measures 460 cm × 880 cm (180 in × 350 in) and covers an end wall of the dining hall at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. The theme was a traditional one for refectories, although the room was not a refectory at the time that Leonardo painted it. The main church building was being completed (in 1498). Leonardo's patron, Ludovico Sforza, planned that the church should be remodeled as a family mausoleum, and to this end, changes were made, perhaps to plans by Bramante; these plans were not fully carried out, and a smaller mortuary chapel was constructed, adjacent to the cloister.[5] The painting was commissioned by Sforza to decorate the wall of the mausoleum. The lunettes above the main painting, formed by the triple arched ceiling of the refectory, are painted with Sforza coats-of-arms. The opposite wall of the refectory is covered by the Crucifixion fresco by Giovanni Donato da Montorfano, to which Leonardo added figures of the Sforza family in tempera; these figures have deteriorated in much the same way as has The Last Supper.[6]

Leonardo worked on The Last Supper from about 1495 to 1498, but did not work continuously. The beginning date is not certain, as the archives of the convent for the period have been destroyed. A document dated 1497 indicates that the painting was nearly completed at that date.[7] One story goes that a prior from the monastery complained to Leonardo about its delay, enraging him. He wrote to the head of the monastery, explaining he had been struggling to find the perfect villainous face for Judas, and that if he could not find a face corresponding with what he had in mind, he would use the features of the prior who had complained.[8][9]

In 1557, Gian Paolo Lomazzo wrote that Leonardo's friend Bernardo Zenale advised him to leave Christ's face unfinished, arguing that "it would be impossible to imagine faces lovelier or gentler than those of James the Greater or James the Less." Leonardo apparently took the advice.[10]


The painting as it appears on the refectory wall



Crucifixion by Giovanni Donato da Montorfano, 1495, opposite Leonardo's Last Supper

Medium
Leonardo, as a painter, favoured oil painting, a medium which allows the artist to work slowly and make changes with ease. Fresco painting does not facilitate either of these objectives. Leonardo also sought a greater luminosity and intensity of light and shade (chiaroscuro) than could be achieved with fresco.[11] Instead of painting with water-soluble paints onto wet plaster, laid freshly each day in sections, Leonardo painted The Last Supper on a wall sealed with a double layer of gesso, pitch, and mastic.[12] 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. This was a method that had been described previously by Cennino Cennini in the 14th century. However, Cennini described the technique as being more risky than fresco painting, and recommended the use of "a secco" painting (on dry plaster) for the final touches alone.[13]

Subject
The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci – Clickable Image
The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. (Clickable image—use cursor to identify.)
The Last Supper portrays the reaction given by each apostle when Jesus said one of them would betray him. All twelve apostles have different reactions to the news, with various degrees of anger and shock. The apostles were identified by their names, using an unsigned, mid-sixteenth-century fresco copy of Leonardo's Cenacolo.[14] Before this, only Judas, Peter, John and Jesus had been positively identified. From left to right, according to the apostles' heads:

Bartholomew, James, son of Alphaeus, and Andrew form a group of three; all are surprised.
Judas Iscariot, Peter, and John form another group of three. Judas is wearing red, blue, and green and is in shadow, looking withdrawn and taken aback by the sudden revelation of his plan. He is clutching a small bag, perhaps signifying the silver given to him as payment to betray Jesus, or perhaps a reference to his role as a treasurer.[15] He is also tipping over the salt cellar, which may be related to the near-Eastern expression to "betray the salt" meaning to betray one's master. He is the only person to have his elbow on the table and his head is also vertically the lowest of anyone in the painting. Peter wears an expression of anger and appears to be holding a knife, foreshadowing his violent reaction in Gethsemane during the arrest of Jesus. Peter is leaning towards John and touching him on the shoulder, in reference to John's Gospel where he signals the "beloved disciple" to ask Jesus who is to betray him.[a] The youngest apostle, John, appears to swoon and lean towards Peter.
Jesus
Thomas, James the Greater, and Philip are the next group of three. Thomas is clearly upset; the raised index finger foreshadows his incredulity of the Resurrection. James the Greater looks stunned, with his arms in the air. Meanwhile, Philip appears to be requesting some explanation.
Matthew, Jude Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot are the final group of three. Both Thaddeus and Matthew are turned toward Simon, perhaps to find out if he has any answer to their initial questions.

A study of the head of Christ by Leonardo

Silverpoint study of an apostle, most likely Saint Peter[16]
In common with other depictions of the Last Supper from this period, Leonardo seats the diners on one side of the table, so that none of them has his back to the viewer. Most previous depictions excluded Judas by placing him alone on the opposite side of the table from the other eleven disciples and Jesus, or placing halos around all the disciples except Judas. Leonardo instead has Judas lean back into shadow. Jesus is predicting that his betrayer will take the bread at the same time he does to Thomas and James the Greater to his left, who react in horror as Jesus points with his left hand to a piece of bread before them. Distracted by the conversation between John and Peter, Judas reaches for a different piece of bread not noticing Jesus too stretching out with his right hand towards it (Matthew 26: 23). The angles and lighting draw attention to Jesus, whose turned right cheek is located at the vanishing point for all perspective lines.[17] In addition, the painting demonstrated Da Vinci's masterful use of perspective as it "draws our attention to the face of Christ at the center of the composition, and Christ's face, through his down-turned gaze, directs our focus along the diagonal of his left arm to his hand and therefore, the bread."[18]

Leonardo reportedly used the likenesses of people in and around Milan as inspiration for the painting's figures. The convent's prior complained to Sforza of Leonardo's "laziness" as he wandered the streets to find a criminal to base Judas on. Leonardo responded that if he could find no one else, the prior would make a suitable model.[19] While the painting was being executed, Leonardo's friend, the mathematician Luca Pacioli, called it "a symbol of man's burning desire for salvation".[20]

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March 14th, 2022

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