“The Last Supper” (c. 1495-97) is a painting by Leonardo da Vinci showing Jesus Christ at his last meal with his 12 top followers on the night before he died on the cross. It was Leonardo’s most famous painting till the early 1800s, when the “Mona Lisa” was made public and became more famous still.
Location: It was painted on the dining hall wall of a Dominican monastery in Milan, Italy. The monastery was part of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Holy Mary of Grace), the family church of Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, Leonardo’s employer at the time.
Scene: John 13:21-26 from the Bible:
Jesus […] was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said,
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.”
Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus’ breast saith unto him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it.”
In the painting Jesus is reaching for the same plate as Judas, showing him to be the betrayer, while his followers are in an uproar.
From left to right: Bartholomew, James of Alphaeus, Andrew, Judas, Peter, John, Jesus, Thomas, James, Philip, Matthew, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot.
Leonardo’s drawing of Judas.
Judas, Peter and John in the Last Supper circa 2013.
Judas has a hook nose to show he is Jewish, but why so dark-skinned?
Fourth wall: If you were in the painting you would notice that the table was too narrow and sloping towards the audience, that there was not enough room for 13 people to sit down – and that Jesus was too big. Leonardo knew the rules of perspective and proportion – and, as a stage director, he knew when to break them.
On the menu: bread, wine, fish, eels with orange slices, apples (or maybe pomegranates). Eels are not kosher.
Anachronisms: The painting was meant to look like an extension of the monastery’s dining hall, so except for the beards and clothing, everything is like Milan in the 1490s – the people, gestures, food, the scenery outside the windows, sitting to eat instead of reclining, etc.
Leonardo’s work habits: Some days Leonardo would paint from dawn to dusk, forgetting to eat and drink. On other days he would come in at noon, apply a brush stroke or two, and then leave. And sometimes he would just look at the painting for hours on end and paint nothing.
His disastrous experiment: Despite being a huge perfectionist (or because of it), Leonardo used an experimental oil-tempura-paint-on-plaster technique. By 1517 it was already falling apart.
A copy made in 1520 by Giampietrino.
The restored original in 1975.
The restored original in 2013.
Restoration: It has been restored at least six times, not always for the better. The last two restorations were completed in 1954 and 1999. Only about 20% of his paint remains, the rest guessed at from copies and drawings of the original that have held up much better.
– Abagond, 2020.
Sources: mainly “Leonardo and the Last Supper” (2012) by Ross King and “Leonardo da Vinci” (2017) by Walter Isaacson.
See also:
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Abagond 
Is it just me, or are there faint halos over some of the apostles’ heads in Giampietrino’s copy?
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John? Seems a feminine person to me.
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@ munubantu
I agree. In “The Da Vinci Code” they argued that he was in fact Mary Magdalene. But in Italian Renaissance art he was often portrayed that way. Mary Magdalene does sometimes appear in Last Supper paintings, but only in addition to the 12 Apostles.
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@ Solitaire
Oh yeah, I see it too! Not above Judas, though.
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@ Abagond
I’m not seeing one over Jesus either, though.
What I’m wondering is if Leonardo originally included halos but by the time Giampietrino made his copy, the original had deteriorated enough that they weren’t all visible, and Giampietrino put in only those that could still be seen.
But then that raises the question of why the modern restorers, who knew about Giampietrino’s copy, didn’t restore the halos. Maybe they thought the halos were Giampietrino’s addition? Or maybe since they weren’t sure how many halos Leonardo drew (e.g., did Judas originally have one or not), it was easier not to put any back in?
I was really surprised to see the halos. I’d always thought it was a major innovation for Leonardo to eliminate the halos and thereby present the scene more realistically.
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