Renaissance Art - The Last Supper ( Il Cenacolo ) 1495-1498

The Last Supper

Artist : Leonardo da Vinci,  1452-1519

Date : 1495-1498

Medium : fresco-secco

Dimensions : 460x880cm

Current Location : Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy

The work is presumed to have been started around 1495–96 and was commissioned as part of a plan of renovations to a Dominican monastery in Santa Maria delle Grazie, by Leonardo's patron Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. 

The painting represents the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus with his apostles, as it is told in the Gospel of John.  Leonardo has depicted the consternation that occurred among the Twelve Disciples when Jesus announced that one of them would betray him.

All twelve apostles have different reactions to the news, with various degrees of anger and shock. The apostles are identified from a manuscript (The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci p. 232) with their names found in the 19th century.

From left to right, according to the apostles' heads:

Bartholomew¹, James², son of Alphaeus, and Andrew³ form a group of three; all are surprised.

Judas Iscariot⁴, Peter⁵, and John⁶ form another group of three.

Apostle Thomas⁷, James⁸ the Greater, and Philip⁹ are the next group of three.

Matthew¹⁰, Jude Thaddeus¹¹, and Simon¹² the Zealot are the final group of three.

Judas Iscariot⁴ is wearing green and blue and is in shadow, looking rather withdrawn and taken aback by the sudden revelation of his plan.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 within the 12 disciples as treasurer.  He is also tipping over the salt cellar. This 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 horizontally the lowest of anyone in the painting.

Peter⁵ looks angry and is holding a knife pointed away from Christ, perhaps foreshadowing his violent reaction in Gethsemane during Jesus' arrest.

The youngest apostle, John⁶ , appears to swoon.

Thomas⁷ is clearly upset; the raised index finger foreshadows his incredulity of the Resurrection.

James⁸ the Greater looks stunned, with his arms in the air. Meanwhile, Philip⁹ appears to be requesting some explanation.

Both Jude Thaddeus¹¹ and Matthew¹⁰ are turned toward Simon¹² , perhaps to find out if he has any answer to their initial questions.