{"id":5387,"date":"2017-04-13T09:10:43","date_gmt":"2017-04-13T15:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/?p=5387"},"modified":"2017-04-13T09:10:43","modified_gmt":"2017-04-13T15:10:43","slug":"10-stunning-facts-davincis-last-supper-maundy-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2017\/04\/10-stunning-facts-davincis-last-supper-maundy-thursday.html","title":{"rendered":"10 Stunning Facts About Davinci’s Last Supper for Maundy Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"last<\/a>Every year on Maundy Thursday our church does a short visio divina<\/em> around Leonardo DaVinci\u2019s famous mural, \u201cThe Last Supper.\u201d This practice, and this painting, have both\u00a0come a rich part\u00a0of our Holy Week tradition. Here are a few fun facts about Davinci\u2019s famous masterpiece:<\/p>\n

DaVinci didn\u2019t choose the subject matter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The work was commissioned by the Duke of Milan (Lodovico Sforza), and as was often the case in a commissioned work, the subject matter was chosen for DaVinci.<\/p>\n

The painting was a failed\u00a0experiment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Begun in 1495, the methodology Da Vinci employed to make\u00a0the painting was an experiment that didn\u2019t work. Instead of painting in wet plaster, as was the custom of the day, DaVinci chose to paint this on dry plaster. The immediate result was a much more stunning piece. The long term problem\u00a0was that it was not at all durable. It was not unlike painting on a cement wall with Tempura paint and oil.\u00a0\u00a0The painting deteriorated quickly and just 150 years later, it was considered to be beyond saving.<\/p>\n

Jesus originally had feet.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Davinci\u2019s original mural Jesus had feet, but in 1650 another door was added to the refectory and the portion of the painting beneath Jesus (nobody knew how famous it would eventually be), was literally demolished. What you see there is an old doorway.<\/p>\n

The food on the table is not simple bread and wine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cups of wine and pieces of unleavened\u00a0bread from traditional Last Supper iconography are on the table. But during the 1999 restoration, it was discovered that the table also holds a platter of sliced eel garnished with pieces of orange.<\/p>\n

The painting was vandalized by Napoleon\u2019s officers.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1796 the room in which the mural hangs was used as a stable for French soldiers\u2019 horses.\u00a0Napoleon apparently had given strict orders that no damage was to be done to the mural, but after they left it was discovered that the Apostles had been\u00a0pelted with clay by rowdy soldiers. After that\u00a0the room was used for storing hay until, in 1800, a flood covered the entire painting with green mould.<\/p>\n

The Last Supper has miraculously survived disaster.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Twenty four years later it was damaged in a flood that covered the entire wall. During WWII (1943) the entire monastery was destroyed by allied bombing. Even thought\u00a0the painting had been protected by a series of scaffolds and sandbags, it emerged with plenty of damage. After the war, the\u00a0Monastery was rebuilt around the painting, where it hangs to this day.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The painting was almost never finished.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leonardo DaVinci was eccentric, notoriously slow, and distracted as an artist. He had a reputation for being a\u00a0procrastinator, and had a history of leaving works unfinished). It took him about three years to complete the mural, working 1495 to 1498.Legend has it that when his patron and the local monastery pressured him to finally finish his depiction of\u00a0the last supper\u00a0mural, DaVinci threatened to use the abbot\u2019s face as a model for the face of Judas. (You can\u2019t rush fine art).<\/p>\n

The painting is massive.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The original mural is on a wall of the refectory (dining hall) in the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. It is\u00a015 feet tall by 29 feet wide \u2013 an area of almost 40 square meters. There are no other works of art in the room.<\/p>\n

The painting depicts a specific moment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

DaVinci\u00a0seems to have meant\u00a0to capture the moment at dinner just after Jesus has said, \u201cOne of you will betray me.\u201d All of the disciples here seem to be having obvious reactions to the charge. However, after years of deterioration their once vibrant facial expressions are to vague to make out.<\/p>\n

DaVinci himself is at the table.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This can never be proven, but some art historians believe\u00a0that St James the Lesser (the second apostle from the left) is a self-portrait. This disciple is shown in profile, and has an uncanny resemblance to a chalk profile drawing of DaVinci done by the Italian artist\u00a0Leonardo by Francesco Melzi.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year on Maundy Thursday our church does a short visio divina around Leonardo DaVinci\u2019s famous mural, \u201cThe Last Supper.\u201d This practice, and this painting, have both\u00a0come a rich part\u00a0of our Holy Week tradition. Here are a few fun facts about Davinci\u2019s famous masterpiece: DaVinci didn\u2019t choose the subject matter. The work was commissioned by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[986,505,426,507,984,985,508],"class_list":["post-5387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-eucharist","tag-holy-week","tag-lent","tag-leonardo-davinci","tag-maundy-thursday","tag-milan","tag-the-last-supper"],"yoast_head":"\n10 Stunning Facts About Davinci's Last Supper for Maundy Thursday<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Every year on Maundy Thursday our church does a short visio divina around Leonardo DaVinci's famous mural, "The Last Supper." 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