A Brief Introduction to Oil Painting The Last Supper

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A Brief Introduction to Oil Painting The Last
Supper
The Last Supper is one of Leonardo da Vinci's
most widely-known representative works. It's a
late 15th century mural painting with the
theme from the Bible Story. The evening before
Jesus Christ was betrayed by Judas, he gathered
all the twelve disciples together to have a meal
and gave them explicit instructions on that
ritual. Leonardo da Vinci specifically depicted
the reaction given by each apostle when Jesus
dropped the bombshell that one of them would
betray him before sunrise. All twelve disciples
reacted to the news with various degrees of
anger, shock, and horror.
Leonardo completed this work in 1498, and at that
time, he was not the only artist who chose this
particular biblical scene as the subject for a
religious painting. Compared to other depictions
of The Last Supper from this period, however,
Leonardo's work was the best. Unlike other
artists who excluded Judas by placing him alone
on the opposite of the table from other
eleven disciples and Jesus or placing halos
around all the disciples except Judas, Leonardo
instead has Judas lean back in the shadow with
his hands clutching a small bag, which perhaps
signify that Judas had been paid for his
betrayal. In addition, we can see in the painting
that Judas is tipping over the salt shaker. This
may be related to the Near-Eastern proverb "to
betray the salt", which means to betray one's
master.
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From left to right, the twelve apostles are
sitting in groupings of three. Bartholomew, James
Minor and Andres form the first group. All are
aghast and Andrew holds his hands up in a "stop"
posture. Nearer to Jesus, Judas, Peter and John
form another group of three. Peter, who is
holding a knife, looks visibly angry. The
feminine-looking John seems about to swoon. On
the right side of Jesus, Thomas, James the
Greater and Philip comprise the next group.
Thomas is clearly agitated. James the Greater
stunned and Philip appears to be seeking
clarification. The last group consists of
Matthew, Thaddeus and Simon. It appears that both
Matthew and Thaddeus are turned toward Simon to
see if he can give them any explanations.
The work is presumed to be started in 1495 while
Leonardo completed it in 1498. In order to find
the most proper face that fits each apostle,
Leonardo spent large amount of time observing
people in the market. As a result, in The Last
Supper, every apostle appears to act like a real
person. This is one reason for why Leonardo's
work is much more remarkable and unrivalled
when compared to works of other painters.
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