The Last Supper by Leonardo: the apostles, the perspective and the decay

The Last Supper is a wall painting by Leonardo da Vinci from around 1495–1498 in the refectory of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. It shows the moment when Jesus says that one of the disciples will betray him. The twelve apostles sit in four groups of three, with Jesus alone in the middle, and all the perspective lines in the room meet at his head. Leonardo did not paint in true fresco but on dry plaster, and for that reason the paint began to flake during his lifetime.

Facts

The moment after the words

Earlier pictures of the Last Supper often showed Jesus distributing the bread, with Judas alone on the other side of the table. Leonardo chose a different moment: the one just after Jesus has said that one of them will betray him. The words go through the row like a shock. The disciples lean forward, draw back, stand up, ask one another. Only Jesus sits still, with his arms outstretched, and his body forms a triangle.

Leonardo held that a painter should show the movements of the soul through those of the body. That is why each figure has a gesture of its own: astonishment, anger, doubt, grief. He made many studies of heads and hands in preparation, and some of them survive in the Royal Collection. The painting takes up the whole short wall of the refectory, and the monks ate their meals with it in front of them.

The apostles, from left to right

The identification is based on Leonardo's own notes and on an early copy. At the far left stand Bartholomew, James the Less and Andrew, who holds up his hands in horror. The next group is the most dramatic: Judas, in shadow, leans back with a purse in his hand and has knocked over the salt cellar with his elbow; Peter leans forward with a knife in his hand; and John, young and pale, sinks to one side with clasped hands.

To the right of Jesus sit Thomas, with his forefinger raised, James the Greater, with his arms spread, and Philip, with his hands to his chest as if to say that it is not he. At the far right sit Matthew, Thaddaeus and Simon, who turn to one another and discuss. The group of three recurs in the architecture of the picture, with three windows behind Jesus. Read about how to recognise saints by their attributes in the guide to iconography.

The perspective: all lines towards Jesus

The space in the painting is built with linear perspective. The ceiling beams, the wall hangings and the lines of the floor all run towards a single vanishing point, and it lies at Jesus's right temple. A small hole has been found in the plaster at precisely that spot, where Leonardo probably fixed a string to draw the lines. Wherever you look in the picture, the gaze is led back to his face.

The window behind him works as a halo without any halo being painted: the light from outside frames the head. The perspective is also calculated for the room. The light in the picture falls from the left, as from the refectory's real windows, and the space appears to continue the real one. The diagram below shows how vanishing points work; read more in the guide to linear perspective and in Looking at art: perspective.

Why the painting decayed

A true fresco is painted in wet lime plaster, one section a day, and the paint binds as the plaster dries. This requires the painter to work quickly and decisively, as Giotto did in The Lamentation. Leonardo wanted to work slowly, to change his mind and to build up shadows and transitions as in an oil painting. He therefore applied paint with tempera and oil directly onto the dry wall, a technique called secco.

The paint adhered badly to the damp wall. Already a few years after the painting was finished it began to flake, and in the 16th century it was described as almost ruined. The diagram on fresco below shows how true fresco is built up, and the guide fresco, tempera and oil explains the difference. The words secco and giornata are in the glossary.

The door, the bombs and the restoration

In 1652 a door was cut through the wall, and Jesus's feet disappeared. Over the following centuries the painting suffered from damp, failed restorations and careless use of the room. In August 1943 the convent was bombed and the refectory partly destroyed, but the wall with the Last Supper survived, protected by sandbags and scaffolding.

Between 1978 and 1999 a very extensive restoration was carried out, led by Pinin Brambilla Barcilon. Later overpainting was removed and what remained of Leonardo's paint was uncovered. The result was much debated, since a large part of the original proved to be lost, but the colours became brighter and the faces clearer. Since 1980 the convent and the painting have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Seeing it

Visitors are admitted in small groups for a short, fixed time to protect the painting, and tickets are booked well in advance. Stand in the middle of the room and see how the perspective fits into the hall. Then look for Judas: he is the only one whose face is in shadow.

Leonardo began the Mona Lisa a few years later, and there the same interest in soft transitions can be seen; see the guide to the Mona Lisa. How he differed from his rival is described in Leonardo and Michelangelo, and the period is found under the Italian Renaissance.

What to look for

Exercise

Why did The Last Supper begin to flake so early?