{"id":77378,"date":"2022-08-26T13:32:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T17:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=77378"},"modified":"2022-09-06T12:52:55","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T16:52:55","slug":"the-last-supper-artwork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-last-supper-artwork\/","title":{"rendered":"The Last Supper Artwork: History and Symbolism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” artwork about? What is the history behind the piece?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Last Supper” mural by Leonardo da Vinci took three years to paint, but its precision to detail and artistry made the years worth it. The painting is also iconic for its narrative that depicts Jesus’s prediction that one of his apostles will betray him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read below for a history of “The Last Supper” artwork by Leonardo da Vinci, as read in Walter Isaacson’s biography of the artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Last Supper\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Between 1495 and 1498, Leonardo painted \u201cThe Last Supper\u201d artwork for Duke Ludovico\u2014a commission that tested the duke\u2019s patience but showcased Leonardo\u2019s masterful application of narrative, symbology, and optics<\/strong>. Isaacson reports that the duke was setting up his family\u2019s mausoleum in the Santa Maria delle Grazie monastery and he asked Leonardo to paint one of the walls of the monastery\u2019s dining room. (Shortform note: You can see \u201cThe Last Supper\u201d here<\/a> in high definition.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leonardo\u2019s creation process was haphazard<\/strong>, which made the monastery\u2019s prior (or leader) and the duke uneasy. Isaacson explains that, some days, Leonardo would spend hours painting, not stopping to eat, and people would even gather around him to watch him work. On other days, he would spend hours simply looking at his work in progress, or arrive, paint a single stroke, and leave. The prior complained about his erratic progress to the duke, and Leonardo explained that working slowly allowed him to perfect his ideas. He also warned that he would use the monastery\u2019s prior as a model for Judas Iscariot if the man didn\u2019t stop badgering him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Besides being placed at the Sforza family\u2019s mausoleum, the painting included other \u201cEaster eggs\u201d that referenced Ludovico<\/a> and his court. For example, Leonardo had members of the Milanese court model the different characters in the painting, and the tapestries in the painting were reminiscent of the tapestries in Ludovico\u2019s castle.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The duke\u2019s patience ran thin when his wife died. She was placed in the mausoleum, so he went to the monastery and ate dinner there every week. Isaacson says that to speed Leonardo up, Ludovico had him sign a contract clearly stipulating the deadline. But the duke\u2019s patience was finally rewarded with a work of art that encapsulates much of Leonardo\u2019s genius through three key characteristics that Isaacson identifies. (Shortform note: Besides rewarding the duke\u2019s patience, the painting also catapulted Leonardo to the widespread recognition<\/a> he craved.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Narrative<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Isaacson explains that the painting shows the aftermath of Jesus declaring that one of his apostles would betray him that night. Leonardo lifted each apostle\u2019s emotions and reactions from the Bible and painted gestures and expressions that would showcase them.<\/strong> (Shortform note: There\u2019s been a lot of speculation about the gestures the apostles make in the painting and whether they convey a secret message from Leonardo. However, it\u2019s most likely that they just convey the drama of the situation through gestures that would have been commonly understood at that time<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Symbology<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\u2019s gestures are symbolic of the Eucharist<\/strong> (a Christian rite of thanksgiving and commemoration of the Last Supper). Isaacson explains that Christ\u2019s hands are signaling toward a glass of wine (symbolizing his blood) and a piece of bread (his body). After declaring that one of his followers would betray him, the Bible describes how he blessed the wine and bread and shared it with the apostles because his blood would cleanse their sins. Leonardo chose the placement of Jesus\u2019s hands carefully: The first thing you see is the hand pointing toward the piece of bread and inviting you to participate in the Eucharist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform: Although he was mindful of tradition, Leonardo might not have bought into the religious meaning of the painting. Critics speculate that Jesus doesn\u2019t have a halo because Leonardo thought Jesus was a regular person<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Application of Optics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Isaacson argues that Leonardo applied his knowledge of optics to \u201cThe Last Supper\u201d artwork in two ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) He made Jesus larger than the other characters. <\/strong>He painted him in front of an open window, knowing that a light background makes objects appear larger. This way, he achieved the dominant effect he desired without making Jesus seem unnatural compared to the other characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) He deftly applied the laws of natural and artificial perspective\u2014and disregarded them when necessary.<\/strong> All the straight lines in the painting meet at a vanishing point on Jesus\u2019s forehead. This helped Leonardo create a natural perspective and make the painted room seem real\u2014like an extension of the actual dining room, with even the tapestries in the painting aligning with the tapestries in the monastery room. To achieve this effect, he stuck a nail in the center of the wall and carved radiating lines on the wall to guide his paintbrush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, natural perspective has its limitations, which Isaacson says Leonardo got around by playing with artificial perspective. The wall is too large and the room too narrow for a viewer to stand at the perfect distance from the painting to take the scene in without it looking distorted. Artificial perspective made it possible to adjust how viewers would see the painting, depending on where they were in the room. Isaacson identifies a series of optical illusions Leonardo applied to make the viewing experience smooth, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n