The Last Supper ( or "L'Ultima Cena" ) is a late 15th-century mural painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci housed by the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. It is one of the Western world's most recognizable paintings. The work is assumed to have been started around 1495–96 and was commissioned as part of a plan of renovations to the church and its convent buildings 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, 13:21.
Introduction
The Last Supper (Leonardo)
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Introduction
Ludovico Sforza - Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan
when was the first man made diamond made
user
1954
assistant
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Pure carbon, the belt press, the cubic press and the split-sphere (BARS) press.
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user
High pressure, high temperature.
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Machine tools and cutting tools; as a Thermal conductor; as an Optical material; semiconductors ; gemstones
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user
A machine for handling or machining metal or other rigid materials, usually by cutting, boring, grinding, shearing, or other forms of deformation
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Forerunners of machine tools included bow drills and potter's wheels, which had existed in ancient Egypt prior to 2500 BC, and lathes, known to have existed in multiple regions of Europe since at least 1000 to 500 BC.
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can you name any prominent figure involved in this background?
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Leonardo da Vinci
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where was he born?
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Tuscan hill town of Vinci, Republic of Florence.
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what was his profession?
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Painter, engineer
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can you name any such painted work by him?
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Mona Lisa, The Last Supper
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by whom was the second one commissioned?
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A document dated 1497 indicates that the painting was nearly completed at that date. One story goes that a prior from the monastery complained to Leonardo about its delay, enraging him. He wrote to the head of the monastery, explaining he had been struggling to find the perfect villainous face for Judas, and that if he could not find a face corresponding with what he had in mind, he would use the features of the prior who had complained.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Commission and creation
It is likely that Leonardo da Vinci was already familiar with this work before he painted his own Last Supper in a more dramatic form to contrast with the stillness of these works, so that more emotion would be displayed.
Andrea del Castagno | "The Last Supper"
The painting was commissioned by Sforza to decorate the wall of the mausoleum. The lunettes above the main painting, formed by the triple arched ceiling of the refectory, are painted with Sforza coats-of-arms. The opposite wall of the refectory is covered by the Crucifixion fresco by Giovanni Donato da Montorfano, to which Leonardo added figures of the Sforza family in tempera; these figures have deteriorated in much the same way as has "The Last Supper". Leonardo worked on "The Last Supper" from about 1495 to 1498, but did not work continuously. The beginning date is not certain, as the archives of the convent for the period have been destroyed.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Commission and creation
Leonardo has depicted the consternation that occurred among the Twelve Apostles when Jesus announced that one of them would betray him. Due to the methods used, a variety of environmental factors, and intentional damage, little of the original painting remains today despite numerous restoration attempts, the last being completed in 1999.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Introduction
The Last Supper ( or "L'Ultima Cena" ) is a late 15th-century mural painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci housed by the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. It is one of the Western world's most recognizable paintings. The work is assumed to have been started around 1495–96 and was commissioned as part of a plan of renovations to the church and its convent buildings 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, 13:21.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Introduction
A 16th-century oil on canvas copy is conserved in the abbey of Tongerlo, Antwerp, Belgium. It reveals many details that are no longer visible on the original. The Roman mosaic artist Giacomo Raffaelli made another life-sized copy (1809–1814), commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte, that resides in the Minoritenkirche in Vienna.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Non-modern painting, mosaic, and photography
Restoration on Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" finished in 1999 after two decades of work. Many believe the work done was clumsy, with some features being unrecognizably bright while others went missing altogether.
Paintings conservator | "The Last Supper"
Informational notes Citations Bibliography Further reading
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | References
Leonardo responded that if he could find no one else, the prior would make a suitable model. While the painting was being executed, Leonardo's friend, the mathematician Luca Pacioli, called it "a symbol of man's burning desire for salvation".
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Subject
Two early copies of "The Last Supper" are known to exist, presumed to be work by Leonardo's assistants. The copies are almost the size of the original, and have survived with a wealth of original detail still intact. One, by Giampietrino, is in the collection of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, and the other, by Cesare da Sesto, is installed at the Church of St. Ambrogio in Ponte Capriasca, Switzerland. A third copy (oil on canvas) is painted by Andrea Solari (c. 1520) and is on display in the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of the Tongerlo Abbey, Belgium.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Important copies
This was a method that had been described previously by Cennino Cennini in the 14th century. However, Cennini described the technique as being more risky than fresco painting, and recommended the use of "a secco" painting (on dry plaster) for the final touches alone.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Medium
"The Last Supper" measures and covers an end wall of the dining hall at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. The theme was a traditional one for refectories, although the room was not a refectory at the time that Leonardo painted it. The main church building was being completed (in 1498). Leonardo's patron, Ludovico Sforza, planned that the church should be remodeled as a family mausoleum, and to this end, changes were made, perhaps to plans by Bramante. The entire plan was not carried out. and a smaller mortuary chapel was constructed, adjacent to the cloister.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Commission and creation
A first restoration was attempted in 1726 by Michelangelo Bellotti, who filled in missing sections with oil paint then varnished the whole mural. This repair did not last well and another restoration was attempted in 1770 by an otherwise unknown artist named Giuseppe Mazza. Mazza stripped off Bellotti's work then largely repainted the painting; he had redone all but three faces when he was halted due to public outrage. In 1796, French revolutionary anti-clerical troops used the refectory as an armory and stable; they threw stones at the painting and climbed ladders to scratch out the Apostles' eyes. Goethe wrote that in 1800, the room was flooded with two feet of water after a heavy rainstorm.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Damage and restorations
Art historians hold that the figure is the Apostle John, who only appears feminine due to Leonardo's characteristic fascination with blurring the lines between the sexes, a quality which is found in his other paintings, such as "St. John the Baptist" (painted 1513–1516). Christopher L. Hodapp and Alice Von Kannon comment, "If he [John] looks effeminate and needs a haircut, so does James, the second figure on the left." According to Ross King, an expert on Italian art, Mary Magdalene's appearance at the last supper would not have been controversial and Leonardo would have had no motive to disguise her as one of the other disciples, since she was widely venerated in her role as the "Apostle to the Apostles" and was the patron of the Dominican Order, for whom "The Last Supper" was painted.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Other speculation
The painting depicts the Last Supper, described in the New Testament, the last meal of Jesus Christ with his twelve apostles, during which he predicted that one of them — Judas Iscariot -— would betray him. This plot was popular among artists in the field of Christian art — their versions of the image of the Last Supper of Jesus Christ, among others, created by Leonardo da Vinci, Salvador Dali, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Andrea del Castagno.
Last Supper (Ge) | Introduction
Author Mary Shelley describes her impression of the painting in her travel narrative, "Rambles in Germany and Italy", published 1844:
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Literature
There would have even been precedent for it, since the earlier Italian Renaissance painter Fra Angelico had included her in his painting of the Last Supper. The painting contains several possible numerical references, including to the number three. The Apostles are seated in groups of three, there are three windows behind Jesus, and the shape of Jesus' figure resembles a triangle. His hands are located at the golden ratio of half the height of the composition. The painting can also be interpreted using the Fibonacci series: one table, one central figure, two side walls, three windows and figures grouped in threes, five groups of figures, eight panels on the walls and eight table legs, and thirteen individual figures.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Other speculation
By 1556 – fewer than sixty years after it was finished – Giorgio Vasari described the painting as reduced to a "muddle of blots" so deteriorated that the figures were unrecognizable. By the second half of the sixteenth century Gian Paolo Lomazzo stated that "the painting is all ruined". In 1652, a doorway was cut through the (then unrecognisable) painting, and later bricked up; this can still be seen as the irregular arch-shaped structure near the center base of the painting. It is believed, through early copies, that Jesus' feet were in a position symbolizing the forthcoming crucifixion. In 1768, a curtain was hung over the painting for the purpose of protection; it instead trapped moisture on the surface, and whenever the curtain was pulled back, it scratched the flaking paint.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Damage and restorations
In 1955, Salvador Dalí painted "The Sacrament of the Last Supper", with Jesus portrayed as blond and clean shaven, pointing upward to a spectral torso while the apostles are gathered around the table heads bowed so that none may be identified. It is reputed to be one of the most popular paintings in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Mary Beth Edelson's "Some Living American Women Artists / Last Supper" (1972) appropriated "The Last Supper", with the heads of notable women artists collaged over the heads of Christ and his apostles. The artists collaged over the heads of Christ and his apostles in "Some Living American Women Artists / Last Supper" include Lynda Benglis, Louise Bourgeois, Elaine de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Nancy Graves, Lila Katzen, Lee Krasner, Georgia O'Keeffe, Louise Nevelson, Yoko Ono, M.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Modern art
Leonardo da Vinci's painting of The Last Supper in the former refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan took him and his team of assistants about three years to complete. The painting was not painted using traditional fresco technique but used an experimental oil-based medium. This proved to be a disaster as on a wall prone to damp, the paint surface quickly deteriorated. For centuries the painting was subjected to invasive restorations and retouchings.
Leonardo and the Last Supper | Overview
The halos of the apostles have narrowed into thin circles; and the apostles cast shadows. St Peter and another apostle appear to challenge Judas. Ghirlandaio was well known when he received the commission for this fresco, and soon after its completion, he was called to Rome to help decorate the Sistine Chapel. It is likely that Leonardo da Vinci was familiar with this treatment of the subject, as well as that of Castagno, and painted his own Last Supper in a more dramatic form to contrast with the stillness of these works, so that more emotion would be displayed. During the restoration of this fresco, a preliminary sketch of it was discovered on the left wall of the refectory in Cenacolo di Ognissanti.
The Last Supper (Ghirlandaio) | History
He has been critical of Christ's right arm in the image which has been altered from a draped sleeve to what Daley calls "muff-like drapery".
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Major restoration
The refectory was used as a prison; it is not known if any of the prisoners may have damaged the painting. In 1821, Stefano Barezzi, an expert in removing whole frescoes from their walls intact, was called in to remove the painting to a safer location; he badly damaged the center section before realizing that Leonardo's work was not a fresco. Barezzi then attempted to reattach damaged sections with glue. From 1901 to 1908, Luigi Cavenaghi first completed a careful study of the structure of the painting, then began cleaning it. In 1924, Oreste Silvestri did further cleaning, and stabilised some parts with stucco.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Damage and restorations
Debates among art historians still surround the use of the Fibonacci series as some argue that its purposeful use did not fully begin to be applied to architecture until the early 19th century. Giovanni Maria Pala, an Italian musician, has indicated that the positions of hands and loaves of bread can be interpreted as notes on a musical staff and, if read from right to left, as was characteristic of Leonardo's writing, form a musical composition.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Other speculation
Because Sforza had ordered the church to be rebuilt hastily, the masons filled the walls with moisture-retaining rubble. The painting was done on a thin exterior wall, so the effects of humidity were felt keenly, and the paint failed to properly adhere to it. Because of the method used, soon after the painting was completed on 9 February 1498 it began to deteriorate. In 1499, Louis XII contemplated removing the painting from the wall and taking it to France. As early as 1517, the painting was starting to flake, and in 1532 Gerolamo Cardano described it as "blurred and colorless compared with what I remember of it when I saw it as a boy".
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Damage and restorations
The Last Supper is a painting depicting the Lord's Supper created by Lazzaro Pisani. It is currently the titular altarpiece of the Parish Church in Għasri dedicated to the Institution of the Eucharist.
The Last Supper (Pisani) | Introduction
The Last Supper (1630–1631) is an oil painting by Peter Paul Rubens. It was commissioned by Catherine Lescuyer as a commemorative piece for her father. Rubens created it as part of an altarpiece in the Church of St. Rombout (Rumbold) in Mechelen. The painting depicts Jesus and the Apostles during the Last Supper, with Judas dressed in blue turning back towards the viewer and away from the table. Other than Jesus, the most prominent figure is Judas. Judas holds his right hand to his mouth with his eyes avoiding direct contact with the other figures in the painting creating a nervous expression.
Last Supper (Rubens) | Introduction
The painting's appearance by the late 1970s had become badly deteriorated. From 1978 to 1999, Pinin Brambilla Barcilon guided a major restoration project which undertook to stabilize the painting, and reverse the damage caused by dirt and pollution. The eighteenth- and nineteenth-century restoration attempts were also reversed. Since it had proved impractical to move the painting to a more controlled environment, the refectory was instead converted to a sealed, climate-controlled environment, which meant bricking up the windows. Then, detailed study was undertaken to determine the painting's original form, using scientific tests (especially infrared reflectoscopy and microscopic core-samples), and original cartoons preserved in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Major restoration
The First Supper (1988) is a work of art by Susan Dorothea White, based on Leonardo da Vinci's 1490s painting "The Last Supper". White's painting is acrylic on a large wood panel (1.2 x 2.4 m) and, in a challenge to the patriarchal concept of thirteen men on one side of a table, shows 13 women from all regions of the world; the woman in the position of Leonardo's Christ figure is an Australian aboriginal wearing a T-shirt with the Australian Aboriginal Flag. One woman seen is in the position of Judas. She dines on a Coca-Cola and a hamburger, while all the other women are seen with a bread roll and glass of water.
The First Supper | Introduction
Many other Renaissance artists painted versions of the Last Supper, but only Leonardo's was destined to be reproduced countless times in wood, alabaster, plaster, lithograph, tapestry, crochet and table-carpets.
Italian Renaissance painting | Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo, as a painter, favoured oil painting, a medium which allows the artist to work slowly and make changes with ease. Fresco painting does not facilitate either of these things. Leonardo also sought a greater luminosity and intensity of light and shade (chiaroscuro) than could be achieved with fresco. Instead of painting with water-soluble paints onto wet plaster, laid freshly each day in sections, Leonardo painted "The Last Supper" on a wall sealed with a double layer of gesso, pitch, and mastic. Then, borrowing from panel painting, he added an undercoat of white lead to enhance the brightness of the oil and tempera that was applied on top.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Medium
The Last Supper is a painting by Daniele Crespi. This depiction of the last meal that Jesus Christ took with his disciples was painted in 1624-25 for the Benedictine monastery at Brugora (Brianza). The composition is based on that of Gaudenzio Ferrari (painted 1541-42), located in the Santa Maria della Passione, Milan.
The Last Supper (Crespi) | Introduction
All these qualities come together in his most famous painted works, the "Mona Lisa", the "Last Supper", and the "Virgin of the Rocks".
Leonardo da Vinci | Painting
During these cleanings, Pelliccioli revealed many of Leonardo's original details, such as the Assisi embroidery design on the tablecloth and the gold lettering on Judas's robe.
Conservation-restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper | Mauro Pelliccioli
The Last Supper is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Jacopo Tintoretto. An oil painting on canvas executed in 1592–1594, it is housed in the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, Italy.
Last Supper (Tintoretto) | Introduction
C. Richards, Alma Thomas, and June Wayne. As well, other women artists have their image shown in the border of the piece; in all eighty-two women artists are part of the whole image. This image, addressing the role of religious and art historical iconography in the subordination of women, became "one of the most iconic images of the feminist art movement." Sculptor Marisol Escobar rendered "The Last Supper" as a life-sized, three-dimensional, sculptural assemblage using painted and drawn wood, plywood, brownstone, plaster, and aluminum. This work, "Self-Portrait Looking at The Last Supper", (1982–84) is in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Modern art
"The Last Supper" is to be the subject of an animation by British film-maker Peter Greenaway, who plans to project interpretative images onto its surface to enliven the scene in which the apostles all question Jesus' statement that one of them will betray him.
Cultural references to Leonardo da Vinci | Presentation of existing works
In 1726, the first recorded restoration attempt of "The Last Supper" began. The members of the convent hired Michelangelo Bellotti, a painter, to work on the piece. After filling in the cracked and peeling areas with new tempera paint, Bellotti covered the work with a layer of oil. Due to this, most of the original paint was hidden under his restoration and led to Bellotti being called a “man very deficient in skill and knowledge”.
Conservation-restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper | Michelangelo Bellotti
The right hand of St Peter appears to be replaced by a left hand. Some figures have a remote detachment from emotion, typical of early High Renaissance style, and exemplified by the style of Piero della Francesca. This work, located in the refectory of a convent of cloistered nuns, may or may not have been seen by Leonardo da Vinci was familiar with this work before he painted his far more emotional own Last Supper. The fresco is in an excellent state of conservation, in part because it remained behind a plaster wall for more than a century. The contemporary fresco by Castagno on the top register, not protected, shows the more degradation, and depicts the "Crucifixion", flanked by the "Resurrection" and "Burial of Christ".
Last Supper (del Castagno) | Description
The hand positions of the final pair of apostles on either end of the fresco mirror each other with accomplished realism. The colors of the apostles' robes and their postures contribute to the balance of the piece. The highly detailed marble walls hearken back to Roman "First Style" wall paintings, and the pillars and griffon statues recall Classical sculpture and "trompe l'oeil" painting. Furthermore, the color highlights in the hair of the figures, flowing robes, and perspective in the halos foreshadow advancements to come. The "Last Supper" was a major work by Castagno and his studio. The quality of figures and details can be uneven.
Last Supper (del Castagno) | Description
During World War II, on 15 August 1943, the refectory was struck by Allied bombing; protective sandbagging prevented the painting from being struck by bomb splinters, but it may have been damaged by the vibration. Between 1946 and 1954, undertook a clean-and-stabilise restoration, which Brera director was involved in. Pellicioli reattached paint to the wall using a clear shellac, making it relatively darker and more colorful, and removed some of the overpainting. However, as of 1972, the repainting done in various restorations had made the heads of saints Peter, Andrew, and James differ significantly from the original design.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Damage and restorations
The angles and lighting draw attention to Jesus, whose turned right cheek is located at the vanishing point for all perspective lines. In addition, the painting demonstrated Da Vinci's masterful use of perspective as it "draws our attention to the face of Christ at the center of the composition, and Christ's face, through his down-turned gaze, directs our focus along the diagonal of his left arm to his hand and therefore, the bread." Leonardo reportedly used the likenesses of people in and around Milan as inspiration for the painting's figures. The convent's prior complained to Sforza of Leonardo's "laziness" as he wandered the streets to find a criminal to base Judas on.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Subject
Giacomo Raffaelli (February 2, 1753 - October 11, 1836) was an Italian mosaicist from Rome. He is the author of a copy of Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" commissioned by Napoleon I. The mosaic resides at Vienna in the Minoritenkirche.
Giacomo Raffaelli | Introduction
Last Supper is a 1568 painting by Greek painter sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance Doménikos Theotokópoulos (1541–1614), most widely known as El Greco. The work is currently collected in the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna.
Last Supper (El Greco) | Introduction
Leonardo balanced the varying emotions of the individual apostles when Jesus stated that one of them would betray him, and portrayed the various attributes of anger, surprise and shock. It is likely that [[Leonardo da Vinci]] was already familiar with [[Last Supper (Ghirlandaio)|Ghirlandaio's "Last Supper"]], as well as that of [[Last Supper (del Castagno)|Castagno]], and painted his own "Last Supper" in a more dramatic form to contrast with the stillness of these works, so that more emotion would be displayed. [[Last Supper (Tintoretto)|Tintoretto's depiction]] (1590–1592) at the [[Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore]] in Venice, also depicts the announcement of the betrayal, and includes secondary characters carrying or taking the dishes from the table.
Last Supper in Christian art | Key examples
Van Aelst's composition of the "Last Supper" became extremely popular in the 16th century and many versions were produced. The version dated 1527 in the collection of the Duke and Duchess of Rutland, Belvoir Castle, Grantham, England is believed to be the original copy from which all the other ones were derived. The composition was popularised through a after it made by Hendrik Goltzius. Van Aelst's painting of the subject was freely inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" (1498, Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan) and Marcantonio Raimondi's of about 1515–1516 based on a lost drawing by Raphael.
Pieter Coecke van Aelst | "Last Supper"
In 1924, the Italian painter Oreste Silvestri led the task of cleaning Leonardo's work, as well as applying new plaster to the edges of the painting.
Conservation-restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper | Oreste Silvestri
The 20th century brought advancements in scientific technologies that were used in the restoration and conservation of "The Last Supper". The first person to conduct an analysis of the painting’s chemical components was Luigi Cavenaghi, in 1908. From this analysis, Cavenaghi concluded that the painting was completed in tempera paint, on two layers of plaster.
Conservation-restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper | Luigi Cavenaghi
"Some Living American Women Artists / Last Supper" (1972) appropriated Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper," with the heads of notable women artists collaged over the heads of Christ and his apostles. Christ's head is overlaid with that of Georgia O'Keeffe. The artists collaged over the apostles include Lynda Benglis, Louise Bourgeois, Elaine de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Nancy Graves, Lila Katzen, Lee Krasner, Georgia O'Keeffe, Louise Nevelson, Yoko Ono, M. C. Richards, Alma Thomas, and June Wayne. As well, other women artists have their image shown in the border of the piece; in all eighty-two women artists are part of the whole image.
Mary Beth Edelson | "Some Living American Women Artists / Last Supper"
The third major theme is the farewell of Jesus to his disciples, in which Judas Iscariot is no longer present, having left the supper. The depictions here are generally melancholy, as Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure. There are also other, less frequently depicted scenes, such as the washing of the feet of the disciples. Well known examples include Leonardo da Vinci's depiction, which is considered the first work of High Renaissance art due to its high level of harmony, Tintoretto's depiction which is unusual in that it includes secondary characters carrying or taking the dishes from the table and Salvadore Dali's depiction combines the typical Christian themes with modern approaches of Surrealism.
Last Supper | Artistic depictions
The painting was commissioned by the Rev. Fr. Carmelo Caruana, curator of the church, and vice parish priest. The painting was put in place in 1917. The decorator Antonio Agius is responsible for the frame, which was done a year later. This, and his other works in the parish church are considered to be his climax. The stone sculptures at the bottom of the frame were removed when the walls of the chancel were covered in marble (see right).
The Last Supper (Pisani) | Painting
A "Last Supper" is painted in the refectory of the Osservanti in Strevi. He also painted in the cloister of San Bernardino in Moncalvo. His sons Giovanni Battista and Francesco were also a painter as well as a priest. The former painted a "San Rocco" for a church in Acqui. The latter traveled to Rome to study, but died young.
Giovanni Monevi | Biography
"The Last Supper" has been the target of much speculation by writers and historical revisionists alike, usually centered on purported hidden messages or hints found within the painting, especially since the publication of Dan Brown's novel "The Da Vinci Code" (2003), in which one of the characters suggests that the person to Jesus' right (left of Jesus from the viewer's perspective) is actually Mary Magdalene. It also states that there was a letter ‘glaring in the center of the painting’ (M) standing for Matrimonio or Mary Magdalene. This speculation originated in earlier books "The Templar Revelation" (1997) by Lynn Picknett and "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" by Michael Baigent, Henry Lincoln and Richard Leigh (1982).
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Other speculation
Due to the commission's size, the artists brought with them numerous assistants. Rosselli brought his son-in-law Piero di Cosimo. According to the Renaissance art historian Giorgio Vasari, Rosselli was considered one of the less gifted among the painters at the Sistine Chapel, and his paintings in the chapel were the subject of the other artists' irony. However, his sheer adoption of brilliant colors granted him the appreciation of the pope, who apparently, was not considered an art expert.
Last Supper (Rosselli) | History
The conservation-restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" is an ongoing project that has spanned many centuries. Completed in the late 15th century by the Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, the mural is located in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy. "The Last Supper" was commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan in 1495, as part of a series of renovations to the convent with the intention that the location would become the Sforza family mausoleum. Work began on "The Last Supper" in 1495 and lasted until 1498. The scene is understood to depict the Bible verse John 13:22, showing the reactions of the Twelve Disciples, at the Last Supper, in the moments following Jesus’s announcement that one among them will betray him.
Conservation-restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper | Introduction
Thus its exclusively female audience should be considered in analyzing the work. Castagno painted a large chamber with life-sized figures that confronted the nuns at every meal. The fresco would have served as a didactic image and an inspiration to meditation on their relationship with Jesus. Painted with a careful attention to naturalistic detail—a sense of real space and light, seemingly tangible details of the setting, and lifelike figures—the work must have spoken forcefully of the continued significance of the Eucharistic meal in their own world.
Last Supper (del Castagno) | Introduction
The "Last Supper" is the central panel of "Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament", commissioned from Bouts by the Leuven Confraternity of the Holy Sacrament in 1464. All of the central room's orthogonals (lines imagined to be behind and perpendicular to the picture plane that converge at a vanishing point) lead to a single vanishing point in the centre of the mantelpiece above Christ's head. However the small side room has its own vanishing point, and neither it nor the vanishing point of the main room falls on the horizon of the landscape seen through the windows. The "Last Supper" is the second dated work (after Petrus Christus' "Virgin and Child Enthroned with St.
Dieric Bouts | Documented works
The Last Supper is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance painters Cosimo Rosselli and Biagio d'Antonio, executed in 1481–1482 and located in the Sistine Chapel, Rome.
Last Supper (Rosselli) | Introduction
Tintoretto depicted the Last Supper several times during his artistic career. His earlier paintings for the Chiesa di San Marcuola (1547) and for the Chiesa di San Felice (1559) depict the scene from a frontal perspective, with the figures seated at a table placed parallel to the picture plane. This follows a convention observed in most paintings of the Last Supper, of which Leonardo da Vinci's late 1490s mural painting in Milan, Italy, is perhaps the best-known example. Tintoretto's 1592–1594 painting, a work of his final years, departs drastically from this compositional formula. The centre of the scene is occupied not by the apostles but instead by secondary characters, such as a woman carrying a dish and the servants taking the dishes from the table.
Last Supper (Tintoretto) | Overview
In Luis Buñuel's 1961 Spanish film "Viridiana", a "tableau vivant" of Leonardo's painting is staged with beggars. Another beggar "photographs" the scene by flashing them. This scene contributed to its refusal by the Vatican who called it "blasphemous." The painting is parodied in the original 1970 movie "MASH", in the scene where Hawkeye Pierce stages a "last supper" for Walt (Painless) Waldowski before his planned suicide. The various doctors, all in surgical scrubs, pose in imitation of the painting. In Norman Jewison's 1973 film version of "Jesus Christ Superstar", in the Last Supper sequence, Jesus and the 12 apostles briefly mimic the posture of each character in Da Vinci's painting.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Film and television
In 1821, Stefano Barezzi, convinced that "The Last Supper" was a fresco, attempted to remove the work from the refectory wall. After realizing his mistake, Barezzi attempted to glue the removed paint back onto the wall. Barezzi also added areas of colored stucco. Between 1853 and 1855, Stefano Barezzi was again hired to work on "The Last Supper". During this conservation attempt, Barezzi cleaned the entire surface of the work, as well as removed plaster above the piece, revealing painted lunettes. These lunettes, painted by Leonardo da Vinci, depict the coats of arms of Leonardo's patron, Ludovico Sforza and his sons, Maximilian and Francesco.
Conservation-restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper | Stefano Barezzi
Leonardo's most famous painting of the 1490s is "The Last Supper", commissioned for the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan. It represents the last meal shared by Jesus with his disciples before his capture and death, and shows the moment when Jesus has just said "one of you will betray me", and the consternation that this statement caused. The writer Matteo Bandello observed Leonardo at work and wrote that some days he would paint from dawn till dusk without stopping to eat and then not paint for three or four days at a time. This was beyond the comprehension of the prior of the convent, who hounded him until Leonardo asked Ludovico to intervene.
Leonardo da Vinci | Paintings of the 1490s
First there is the innkeeper, Simon; then, under him, a carving squire whom I supposed to have come there for his pleasure, to see how the service of the table is managed. There are many other figures which I cannot remember, however, as it is a long time since I painted that picture. Q. Have you painted other Last Suppers besides that one? A. Yes. Q. How many have you painted? Where are they? A. I painted one at Verona for the reverend monks of San Lazzaro; it is in their refectory. Another is in the refectory of the reverend brothers of San Giorgio here in Venice.
The Feast in the House of Levi | Interrogation by the Inquisition
When he received the commission for "The Last Supper", Leonardo da Vinci had never worked on a piece of this great a size, fifteen feet high by almost twenty-nine feet wide. He also had very limited experience working in the technique known as fresco, mixing pigment into wet plaster to create a permanent bond. Traditionally, fresco painters put down many successive layers of plaster before and during the painting process. This method requires fresco painters to work quickly and with a pre-set plan. However, this is not how Leonardo worked, and because of that, he chose a new technique of putting a mixture of oil and tempera paints onto a dry wall.
Conservation-restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper | Techniques and Materials Used
The Last Supper (1480) is a fresco depicting the Last Supper of Jesus by the Italian Renaissance artist Domenico Ghirlandaio; it is located in the refectory of the Convent of the Ognissanti on Borgo Ognissanti #42 in central Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy. It is one of three Last Supper frescoes painted by Ghirlandaio in Florence, the others being for the Badia di Passignano (1476) and for the "Cenacolo di San Marco" (1486).
The Last Supper (Ghirlandaio) | Introduction
Leonardo used red chalk and black paint on top of the lead white to sketch out his image, before adding countless layers of his custom mixed pigments. Leonardo used a series of translucent glazes to finish the frescoes.
Conservation-restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper | Techniques and Materials Used
He described being "absolutely floored" by the quality of the preservation and the "intense luminosity of the face". Isbouts presented a theory that the "Isleworth Mona Lisa" is an earlier work by Leonardo, and is the original portrait of the Florentine subject, "while the "Mona Lisa" in the Louvre is an allegorical representation of the Madonna Annunziata". He further noted that "24 of 27 recognised Leonardo scholars have agreed this is a Leonardo". In his 2017 book, "Young Leonardo: The Evolution of a Revolutionary Artist, 1472-1499", also coauthored with Brown, Isbouts presents a theory that Leonardo also painted two versions of "The Last Supper", with the second being a replica of the first painted on canvas at the request of Louis XII of France.
Jean-Pierre Isbouts | Investigations of the "Mona Lisa" and Leonardo da Vinci
Head of Christ is a c.1494 chalk and pastel study by Leonardo da Vinci for his "The Last Supper". It measures 40 by 32 cm and is now in the Pinacoteca di Brera.
Head of Christ (Leonardo) | Introduction
Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art:
The Last Supper (disambiguation) | Artwork
The gestures of the apostles are derived from Dürer's dated 1523. There exist about 45 versions of this composition, which were executed with the assistance of workshop assistants. A great number of the versions are dated, and of these 6 or 7 are dated 1528. Van Aelst likely produced the original drawing for the "Last Supper", which was subsequently copied onto a panel by means of intermediary cartoons. The composition could be ordered in two formats: 50 x 60 cm and 60 x 80 cm. The large version was more popular than the smaller one. Small biblical scenes in the background of the composition place the "Last Supper" in its theological context.
Pieter Coecke van Aelst | "Last Supper"
Giuseppe Mazza was hired by the priests of Santa Maria delle Grazie in 1770, to work on restoring and conserving "The Last Supper". Mazza attempted to remove Michelangelo Bellotti’s additions by using an iron scraping tool. After this, Mazza started to fill in areas with an oil paint mixture and repainted the work as he chose. Mazza also, thinking the work was a true fresco, washed the wall with a caustic soda. This action led to his being fired from the restoration job, as well as the removal, to another convent of the priest who had hired him.
Conservation-restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper | Giuseppe Mazza
Mauro Pelliccioli completed three separate sessions of restoration and conservation work on "The Last Supper". In 1947, Pelliccioli was appointed to complete a cleaning "to be done more radically than the previous work by Cavenaghi and Silvestri." Pelliccioli attempted to rebind the paint to the wall's surface by brushing a shellac over the paint and injecting casein behind. This attempt, according to Pietro Marani, "restored the paint its cohesion, consistency and bright colours." Between 1951 and 1952 and again in 1954, Pelliccioli concentrated on reversing the work completed during the 18th century and restoring the piece to its earliest state.
Conservation-restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper | Mauro Pelliccioli
"The Last Supper" portrays the reaction given by each apostle when Jesus said one of them would betray him. All twelve apostles have different reactions to the news, with various degrees of anger and shock. The apostles were identified by their names, using a manuscript found in the 19th century. (Before this, only Judas, Peter, John and Jesus had been positively identified.) From left to right, according to the apostles' heads: In common with other depictions of the Last Supper from this period, Leonardo seats the diners on one side of the table, so that none of them has his back to the viewer.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Subject
"The Last Supper" has frequently been referenced, reproduced, or parodied in Western culture. Some of the more notable examples are:
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | In culture
Many art historians dispute that Leonardo's famous "The Last Supper" depicts Mary Magdalene beside Jesus.
Criticism of The Da Vinci Code | Mary Magdalene in Leonardo's "The Last Supper"
Q. But that one is not a Last Supper, and is not even called the Supper of Our Lord. A. I painted another in the refectory of San Sebastiano in Venice, another at Padua for the Fathers of the Maddalena. I do not remember to have made any others. Q. In this Supper which you painted for San Giovanni e Paolo, what signifies the figure of him whose nose is bleeding? A. He is a servant who has a nose-bleed from some accident. Q. What signify those armed men dressed in the fashion of Germany, with halberds in their hands? A.
The Feast in the House of Levi | Interrogation by the Inquisition
A prologue opens by asking, "Why did Leonardo da Vinci choose to paint the portrait of the second wife of an unimportant Florentine merchant when dukes and duchesses ... were begging for a portrait by his hand?" It introduces Salai by five quotations from Leonardo's notebooks and his will. Early narrative chapters establish those two characters and their relationship. The son of a poor shoemaker, Salai is a cutpurse caught in the act by the master, whose grasp and visage he mistakes for the hand and face of God. Leonardo takes him as an apprentice, at no fee, and practically as a servant.
The Second Mrs. Giaconda | Summary
Most previous depictions excluded Judas by placing him alone on the opposite side of the table from the other eleven disciples and Jesus, or placing halos around all the disciples except Judas. Leonardo instead has Judas lean back into shadow. Jesus is predicting that his betrayer will take the bread at the same time he does to Thomas and James the Greater to his left, who react in horror as Jesus points with his left hand to a piece of bread before them. Distracted by the conversation between John and Peter, Judas reaches for a different piece of bread not noticing Jesus too stretching out with his right hand towards it (Matthew 26: 23).
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Subject
The painting is also parodied in Mel Brooks's 1981 movie "History of the World, Part I", making Leonardo a contemporary of Jesus. Many parodies of the painting appear on the small screen, including "That '70s Show"s 1998 first-season episode "Streaking," with Eric flanked by his friends (and Jackie wondering why everyone is sitting on the same side of the table); "The Simpsons" 2005 Season 16 episode "Thank God, It's Doomsday", with Homer as Jesus and Moe and his other patrons as the disciples; and "South Park"s 2009 Season 13 episode "Margaritaville", with Kyle and his friends eating at a pizza parlor.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Film and television
But later that year, he most likely had to delay his work on "Mona Lisa" when he received payment for starting "The Battle of Anghiari", which was a more valuable commission and one he was contracted to complete by February 1505. In 1506, Leonardo considered the portrait unfinished. He was not paid for the work and did not deliver it to his client. The artist's paintings traveled with him throughout his life, and he may have completed the "Mona Lisa" many years later in France, in one estimation by 1516.
Lisa del Giocondo | "Mona Lisa"
The Sacrament of the Last Supper is a painting by Salvador Dalí. Completed in 1955, after nine months of work, it remains one of his most popular compositions. Since its arrival at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. in 1955, it replaced Renoir's "A Girl with a Watering Can" as the most popular piece in the museum.
The Sacrament of the Last Supper | Introduction
By 2007, due to the weight of the canvas itself, creases were forming in the painting and it was getting unstuck from its frame. BOV sponsored the restoration. The restoration was carried out by Emanuel Zammit, from Żejtun following his other works in the Cathedral of the Assumption in Gozo.
The Last Supper (Pisani) | Restoration
Five hundred years later, two full-size sculptures were completed based on Leonardo's work. Technically his "The Last Supper" is unfinished. In most pictures it shows a roof, but at Milan, where the painting lies, it shows some Latin that is half done. Robert William Buss left unfinished his most famous painting, "Dickens' Dream", just as Charles Dickens himself had left a novel half-complete at his death. Depending on the medium involved, it can be difficult for another artist to complete an unfinished artwork without damaging it. Some artists completed the paintings of their mentors, such as Giulio Romano is believed to have done on Raphael's "Transfiguration", and Titian on Giorgione's "Sleeping Venus".
Unfinished creative work | Drawings, paintings and sculptures
"The Last Supper" by Gustavus Hesselius was the first recorded public art commission in the American colonies. Commissioned in October 1721, it is displayed on the choir gallery of St. Barnabas Church, Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Before this, most painting in the new world had been portraits. "The Last Supper" was the first significant American painting to depict a scene. The painting which measures 35 inches by 117½ inches was commissioned for an older church built in 1710, and remained there until the present structure was built in 1774. It disappeared during the construction of the new Brick Church and did not surface again until it was discovered in a private collection in 1848 or 1914, when Charles Henry Hart identified it, depending on which source one follows.
Gustavus Hesselius | "The Last Supper"
Leonardo da Vinci (; 14/15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. The "Mona Lisa" is the most famous of his works and the most famous portrait ever made. "The Last Supper" is the most reproduced religious painting of all time and his "Vitruvian Man" drawing is also regarded as a cultural icon. He is also known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on science and invention; these involve a variety of subjects including anatomy, cartography, painting, and palaeontology.
Leonardo da Vinci | Introduction
We will see how he is going to do it regarding the great council chamber, the thing which he has just come to terms about with the gonfaloniere. October 1503.") In the comment Vespucci notes a similarity of style between Leonardo and the renowned ancient Greek painter Apelles, in that both artists would first render the head and shoulders of subjects in extraordinary detail before continuing with the rest of the painting. As an example Vespucci lists Leonardo's work on the portrait of "Lisa del Giocondo," and dates his comment "October 1503." The inclusion of the name and date allowed validation with a later known (but often unreliable) source published in 1550 and written by art historian Giorgio Vasari, who states that during this period Leonardo had taken a commission from Francesco del Giocondo to paint his wife, "'." Here "Mona" was not intended as a name, but as an abbreviation of ', the Italian literary form of "Lady".
Agostino Vespucci | "Mona Lisa"
Her 'female disciples' are sitting to her right and left: women from all corners of the world..." and "...the image generates intense discussion". An American doctoral dissertation and a 1999 journal article analyse "The First Supper" as "a subversive postmodern ironic reading of Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper"". White's 2012 painting "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Freeman" references Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp by setting it in a contemporary university laboratory with each of the onlookers rendered as an anatomical prosection and skeleton. The painting was first exhibited in a 'circuito off' curated group show during the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013.
Susan Dorothea White | Painting
The "Last Supper" is the theme of the central panel of the altarpiece, commissioned from Bouts by the Leuven Confraternity of the Holy Sacrament in 1464. All of the orthogonals in this composition display an understanding of linear perspective. The lines lead to a single vanishing point in the center of the mantelpiece above Christ's head, though outside the room, the small side room has its own vanishing point, and neither it nor the vanishing point of the main room falls on the horizon of the landscape seen through the windows. Dieric Bouts was not a native of Leuven. He moved there from Haarlem and his "Last Supper" was the first Flemish panel painting of its kind.
Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament | Description
In one 2015 episode of the CBC drama "Murdoch Mysteries" called "Barenaked Ladies", the suspects recreate the poses of Peter, Judas, and Thomas in their victims.
The Last Supper (Leonardo) | Film and television
The woodcut portrait of Curio is an illustration from Nikolaus Reusner's 1587 collection of images of men of letters. An example is held in the British Museum collections.
Celio Secondo Curione | The last years
In 1505 Leonardo was commissioned to paint "The Battle of Anghiari" in the Salone dei Cinquecento (Hall of the Five Hundred) in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. Leonardo devised a dynamic composition depicting four men riding raging war horses engaged in a battle for possession of a standard, at the Battle of Anghiari in 1440. Michelangelo was assigned the opposite wall to depict the Battle of Cascina. Leonardo's painting deteriorated rapidly and is now known from a copy by Rubens. Among the works created by Leonardo in the 16th century is the small portrait known as the "Mona Lisa" or "La Gioconda", the laughing one.
Leonardo da Vinci | Paintings of the 16th century
Redefining of the famous "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci is a distinctive theme of Kalinauskas' art on which he has worked for many years. The first exhibition devoted to the masterpiece was presented in 2006 at the Leonardo da Vinci National Science & Technology Museum in Milan. Other exhibitions of his impression from the da Vinci masterpiece included "INK The Last Supper: Spirit, Flesh, Blood" (Bratislava, Slovakia, 2011). The most complete realization of his vision of a famous painting was presented Lavra gallery in Kiev (Ukraine) in a philosophical large-scale art project "2000 years have passed. Faces faded, but the light remained" (polyptych-installation, reminiscence).
Igor Kalinauskas | The Last Supper: Spirit, Flesh, Blood
The Last Supper (1445–1450) is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance artist Andrea del Castagno, located in the refectory of the convent of Sant'Apollonia, now the "Museo di Cenacolo di Sant'Apollonia", and accessed through a door on Via Ventisette Aprile at the corner with Santa Reparata, in Florence, region of Tuscany. The painting depicts Jesus and the Apostles during the Last Supper, with Judas, unlike all the other apostles, sitting separately on the near side of the table, as is common in depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art. Sant'Apollonia was a Benedictine convent of cloistered nuns, and Castagno's fresco was not publicly known until the convent was suppressed in 1866: Vasari, for example, seems not to have known of the painting.
Last Supper (del Castagno) | Introduction
Most of this work during this time is untraceable, as it was all published under Dick's name. It is widely assumed that the engraving of Leonardo's Last Supper is Burt's handiwork. As a member of the American Art Union, Burt engraved several signed larger plates including: "Sir Walter Raleigh Parting with his Wife" (after Emanuel Leutze, 1846); "The Signing of the Death Warrant of Lady Jane Grey" (after Daniel Huntington, 1848); "Anne Page, Slender, and Shallow" (after Charles Robert Leslie, 1850); "Bargaining for a Horse" (after William Sidney Mount, 1851), and "Marion Crossing the Pedee" (after William Tylee Ranney, 1851).
Charles Burt | Life
In a paragraph in the National Gallery's curatorial file but missing from all published accounts, Dalí wrote of this picture:
The Sacrament of the Last Supper | Background
Artists who showed the scene on a ceiling or in a relief sculpture had further difficulties in devising a composition.
Last Supper in Christian art | Setting
The Last Supper (1493–1496) is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance painter Pietro Perugino, located in the refectory, now museum, of the former Convent of Fuligno located on Via Faenza #42 in Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy. The fresco depicts Jesus and the Apostles during the Last Supper, with Judas sitting separately on the near side of the table, as is common in depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art. It is considered one of Perugino's best works. As in some other cases, Perugino reused the details of the delicate figures here in other works, drawing later complaints from Giorgio Vasari.
Last Supper (Perugino) | Introduction
The triptych from the chapel of Santa Marta, of the ancient Archbishop's Palace at Fontelo, shows the Last Supper, with Judas leaving on the left panel.
Last Supper (Fernandes) | Analysis
The Superintendent for Artistic and Historical Heritage in Milan ordered a complete examination of Leonardo’s work in 1976. This examination included sonar and radar tests, core samples of the wall, infrared cameras, and x-rays. The Superintendent appointed Pinin Brambilla Barcilon, a well-known and respected art restorer, to oversee a full restoration. During this restoration, steps were taken to carefully remove dirt and grime before starting to reverse past restoration attempts. The restoration team removed the numerous layers of shellac, paint, and oils using “solvent applied with tiny blotters of Japanese paper." Areas that were too damaged or unrecognizable were filled in with light watercolor paints, so as not to detract from the blank areas.
Conservation-restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper | Pinin Brambilla Barcilon
The record of an October 1517 visit by Louis d'Aragon states that the "Mona Lisa" was executed for the deceased Giuliano de' Medici, Leonardo's steward at the Belvedere Palace between 1513 and 1516—but this was likely an error. According to Vasari, the painting was created for the model's husband, Francesco del Giocondo. A number of experts have argued that Leonardo made two versions (because of the uncertainty concerning its dating and commissioner, as well as its fate following Leonardo's death in 1519, and the difference of details in Raphael's sketch—which may be explained by the possibility that he made the sketch from memory).
Mona Lisa | History