The Last Supper

When I was making preparations for my recent trip to Italy, I discovered rather quickly that getting tickets to see Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, The Last Supper was going to be a challenge.  Trying to get individual tickets turned out to be almost impossible so, with the help of my friends who had been there before, I signed up for a four-hour tour of Milan highlights that included viewing one of the most famous paintings in the world.  That turned out to be a very smart choice.

The painting is located in the refractory of the Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie and since it was painted on a wall, it has remained there ever since.  After arriving via a tour bus, our group gathered in front of the church at the monastery.

As we waited for our turn to view the painting, I took the opportunity to step inside the church to see what it was like.  It's a beautiful old church which looked somehow bigger on the inside than it did from the outside.

As our scheduled time drew near, our tour guide led us to a courtyard inside the monastery where I got an even better view of the round tower at the back of the church.

Finally, it was time to enter the hall where this painting is located.  I have to say that entering that room was so different than I had expected.  I guess because of the difficulty getting tickets, I had a vision of going into a room and walking in a line of people past the painting as someone hustled us along.

I was pleasantly surprised.  The room is bigger than I expected and our single tour group were the only ones inside the room for the 20 minutes we had to admire this work of art.  Our tour guide pointed out certain details about the painting but, mostly we had time to admire it at our own pace.  We were even encouraged to take photographs as long as no flash was used.

The artist began work on this painting in 1495 and he used oil and tempera on a dry, plastered wall.  The paint began to break down and wear off even in da Vinci's lifetime.  Further destruction occurred in the 17th century when a door was cut in the center of the wall.  You can see where the door was cut out of the painting in the photo above.  Clearly, da Vinci's work was not as cherished then as it is today.

The Last Supper was a perfect subject for a painting that was adorning the monastery's dining hall.  It was meant to look as though Jesus was dining with the monks who were having their meals in the same room.

This close up photo shows how the paint is faded and peeling from the wall.  And that is after a 19-year restoration project that began in 1980.  Because of that restoration and other attempts to restore the painting in the past, very few of da Vinci's original brushstrokes remain.  Seeing it up close made me wonder if it could possibly survive another 500 years.  I felt saddened that it might not.

At the other end of the hall was another painting that was also painted in 1490s.  This one is called The Crucifixion and it was painted by Donato Montorfano, a well know Milanese artist.  Leonardo added portraits of his benefactor, Lodavico il Moro and his wife and children on either side of this painting but the portraits are so faded now that they can barely be seen.

As we left the room, our guide pointed out this frieze of The Last Supper and explained that it is for the blind so they can touch it and get an impression of what the painting looks like.  He said that this type of "brail" depiction is starting to show up in museums around the world.

I am so glad I had an opportunity to see this infamous painting.  As I said above, its future seems to be so uncertain.