Carrying on from my
post on the renaissance where I focusing on Michelangelo’s work, this one is
going to be looking at Leonardo Da Vinci and more specifically his last supper
masterpiece.
'The world of art library . history of art
Peter and Linda Murry
The art of the Renaissance
p.239
215 Leonardo Da Vinci
Last Supper'
The Last Supper when it was completed was a
grand piece of art, as it had been worked on for thee years it was finally
revealed as an enormous painting covering the entire wall on the north side of
the room in the monastery. This makes the characters larger than life size and
I think this makes them appear greatly superior to whoever is in the room.
The painting is a
single moment but tells a thousand stories. In a sense its seen as a snap shot
of everyone eating at the last supper but then small gestures draw you into
smaller stories about the individual disciples. For example there is John who
was known at Christ’s most loved disciple and his head is wilted down with a
sad expression this is because he will soon be morning at foot of Jesus’ cross.
Then there is the
likes of Peter and he is holding a knife behind his back. This is to show that
he will later cut off the ear of Malchus.
The most
interesting disciple of the 12 in this painting for me is Judas, this is because at the dinner
it is announced that one of the disciples will betray Jesus. This ends up being
Judas. In the painting he is grasping a moneybag this is to represent greed.
Leonardo Da Vinci has taken a different view on the supper as he has painted
Judas on the same side of the table as everyone else. This was a little odd as
everyone one els who had painted this scene has put Judas on the near side of
the table. But Da Vinci is showing that at this point Judas is still a follower
of Jesus and is still part of the intimate gathering. But he has also painted
him as the only one looking away from the light and his face is in shadow to
show the thoughts of betrayal that he will soon commit.
Da Vinci also painted
Jesus looking down because he didn’t want him looking up at the opposite wall
where there is am earlier painting of him nailed to his crucifix.
The way the last
supper has been used as a homage today is mainly in advertising and I think it
isn’t paying respect to the painting at all but making fun of it and for a
painting that has been trough so much in history and is still around today for
thousands of people to view shouldn’t be used as an advertising campaign to
sell jeans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnBT7XwqTGM