The last supper by leonardo da vinci Essay Example for Free

The last supper by leonardo da vinci Essay In human history, it is hard to find another so gifted person, as Leonardo da Vinci was. He serves as a symbol of Renaissance person, an ideal of harmoniously developed human. His heritage consists of works of art, sculptures, works on mechanics, physics and natural science. Leonardo da Vinci is, undoubtedly, the most prominent representative of Renaissance art period of Italy. This paper is to examine only one of his outstanding masterpieces – The Last Supper. This work of art is made in a form of a huge fresco, performed by order of Louis Moro for refectory of the church Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan in 1495-1497. It began to acquire its unique reputation immediately after it was finished in 1498 and its prestige has never diminished. Despite the many changes in tastes, artistic styles, and rapid physical deterioration of the painting itself, the paintings status as an extraordinary creation has never been questioned nor doubted. It’s fortune is dramatic. The paints started chalking already during Leonardo’s life. In XVII century a door was made in the wall of refectory, which partially ruined the composition, and in XVIII century the room was turned into grain warehouse. Later the fresco was damaged by poor reconstructions. In 1908 certain jobs on cleaning and consolidation of the painting were made. During WWII the ceiling and southern wall of the refectory were ruined by a bomb. Restoration in 1945 saved the fresco from further destruction, however, now we can see only the general shapes of Leonardo’s masterpiece. Much of the detail can be learned from a copy, made with oil and canvas by unknown artist of the XVI century . A huge fresco, which is about 15 feet high and 29 feet long, covers the entire back wall of the refectory. The perfection of this work lies not only in the artistic merits of the painting, but also in Leonardos expressive mastery. Leonardos Last Supper is an ideal pictorial representation of the most important event in the Christian doctrine of salvation the institution of the Eucharist . Leonardo painted The Last Supper on a dry wall rather than on wet plaster, so it is not a true fresco. Because a fresco cannot be modified as the artist works, Leonardo instead chose to seal the stone wall with a layer of pitch, gesso and mastic, then paint onto the sealing layer with tempera. Because of the method used, the piece has not withstood time very well – within several years of completion it already began showing signs of deterioration . Master’s idea was to create an illusion, that the room, where the Last Supper takes place is a part of the refectory itself, and thus to turn a spectator into a participant of one of the most important events in the history of Christianity. Leonardo depicted the dramatic culmination of the Supper, the very moment that Jesus has said to his disciples: â€Å"Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. Matthew 26† Jesus words inspire a number of feelings in His adepts: anger, fear, despair, some of them stand up from their places and gesticulate. In order not to create an impression of a clutter, Leonardo united the characters into four groups with three persons in each of them, symmetrically placed around the Savior. The first group consists of Bartholomew, James the Lesser and Andrew, all of them appearing surprised. Andrew holds both of his hand up in front of him in a frightened gesture. The second group: Judah Iscariot, Simon Peter and John. Judah is holding a bag of silver in his right hand, while reaching for a piece of bread with his left. Simon Peter is leaning over the shoulder of John, a knife held in his right hand, symbolizing his zealous defence of Jesus. John appears to be swooning. In contrast to traditional depiction of Judah opposite to Christ, Leonardo placed him near God the Son, however, the traitor can be easily recognized with his pulled back figure, convulsive gesture of his hand, fastening a purse and dark profile. Da Vinci presented a realistic explanation of Christs prophetic words that the first man to share bread with him would also be the betrayer: Jesus and Judas are shown reaching for the same piece of bread, although everybodys attention is riveted elsewhere. The third group is made of Thomas, James the Great and Phillip. These three appear in different degrees of shock; Thomas, with his hand raised, and Phillip seem to be requesting some sort of explanation, while James the Great, between them, appears to be recoiling from Jesus in horror. The last group of three is formed by Matthew, Jude Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot and theyappear to be discussing the matter with each other, in a rendition of Luke 22:23: They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this. The figure of Christ is not only spacial, but also a spiritual centre of the painting. He is alone in his wise eupathy and acceptance of fate. His figure seems to be the only stable element of the painting, symbolizing the sanctity of faith and imminence of His mission. References 1. Pietro C. Marani. â€Å"Leonardo Da Vinci: The Complete Paintings†, Harry N. Abrams, 2000 2. David A. Brown â€Å"Leonardo da Vinci: Origins of a Genius†. Yale University Press, 1998 3. Roderick C. Morris â€Å"Shock Waves of Leonardos Last Supper†, International Herald Tribune, May 26, 2001.