One of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous works was disappearing 30 years ago
Back in August 1989, the Last Supper in Milan could barely be viewed by visitors to the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie where the painting, a fresco, was made on a plaster wall by Leonardo da Vinci circa 1495. Artists were restoring the quite faded work. Even so, the line to see the Last Supper, known in Italy as Il Cenacolo, still was long.
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While a friend and I waited and waited and inched forward and waited some more, what I was most intrigued by was the painting’s experience during World War II. I recall gazing at copies of old photographs showing the painting exposed to the open air.
Bombs dropped by the Allies destroyed most of the refectory, but one of the world’s most famous paintings miraculously survived.
Expectations for the Last Supper back then were low. It is a religious painting in a nation full of religious art. Would one more image of Jesus Christ or one more image of the Last Supper be that special? Would the photographs I’d seen be sharper than what remained of the painting itself?
A whisper of a painting
What I remember from that visit to the Last Supper 30 years ago is the long wait in the hot sun and an impatience at lingering so long to see a single work of art. And, then, finally, we were in—and the painting was barely visible. The room was almost black with some bright lights shining near the painting. The attendees at that last supper were almost not there.
The crowd was hushed. Was this little gathering of visitors collectively experiencing shock? I hadn’t realized how little of the painting remained. I could not really see how this work could possibly be restored.
Back out in the sunlight, our primary mission in Milan accomplished, we departed for the Lago Maggiore. The Last Supper would just be an entry on a cosmic checklist—yes, I’ve visited. I did not particularly feel the need to go back.
The Last Supper Today
Yet, three decades later, I cannot help but wonder how it all turned out for that painting. In the intervening years, I’ve seen a lot of restored churches and an astonishing number of purportedly revitalized artworks that look like they’d been updated by a group of not-particularly-talented fourth graders. Expectations upon booking a visit to the Last Supper again are low.
Our guide leads us first to the work opposite, Giovanni Donato Montorfano’s Crucifixion, a painting that gets to be second fiddle for an eternity, a record’s flip side that no one is particularly interested in.
But turn away from that work, a mural depicting Christ’s crucifixion, his horrific last hours, to an image of the evening before. Once again, the group taking in the Last Supper is hushed. Yes, photographs are allowed; seemingly everyone takes selfies; but the 15 or so minutes we have to appreciate this painting lends to a bit of contemplation once again. A quarter hour to visit a destination seems like not nearly enough, but how often do we devote that kind of time to a single work? I’ve seen the Mona Lisa a couple of times as well and don’t spend the same number of minutes looking at it. It is smaller. Tourists have to push a bit to get up close. You can’t really just sit and look and wonder.
Whatever your personal views about the church, consider that, at the very least, you are looking at images of 13 men (or possibly one woman) who changed the world, whose names many know 2,000 years after they lived and died. While most of them turn out to be heroes for many, they appear like the rest of us, engaged in meal with a group of friends. The moment captured in the painting supposedly is that after Jesus has informed the apostles that one of them will betray him.
da Vinci created an image of an approachable Jesus, someone more like us rather than a halo-wearing otherworldly sort.
Go and take a look at it while it is still there. Bring your camera.
Is Mary Magdalene in the Last Supper Painting?
Thanks to novelist Dan Brown and his book, The da Vinci Code, some believe that the figure of John, seated to the left of Jesus if you happen to be facing the Last Supper painting, is actually Mary Magdalene. Scholars seem to reject this idea and maintain that the figure is actually that of the apostle John, whom, many maintain, is often depicted as effeminate.
I won’t claim to know who is who in this image, except that I like the idea that a woman may actually have had a bigger role than has been historically acknowledged.
Those leaning toward Team Mary Magdalene might compare the image of “John” with other paintings of women by da Vinci.
Many of his women tend to look the same—such as Leda, St. Anne, the Virgin of the Rocks, the woman who appears drawing referred to as Head of a woman, and the figure of “John” in the Last Supper. You decide.
For Bashful Adventurers
Book now: You need tickets to be admitted to the Last Supper, and they tend to sell quickly. If you are planning a trip to Milan, buy your tickets early.
A battle of the painters, Renaissance style? da Vinci purportedly added a bit of his own handiwork to the painting opposite the Last Supper, Donato Montorfano’s Crucifixion. These figures, like those in the Last Supper, have also faded. Ludovico the Moor and his eldest son appear at the left of Crucifixion, and Ludovico’s wife, Beatrice d’Este, and their son Francesco appear at the lower right.
Books to read if you want to learn more: Leonardo or the universal genius by Paolo de Silvestri, Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper by Pietro C. Marani, Leonardo da Vinci by Sherwin B. Nuland, and, for more youthful adventurers, Leonardo and the Pen that Drew the Future by Luca Novelli. Although the Novelli book is geared to younger readers, I still enjoy it as a quick introduction to da Vinci—with cartoons.
—Lori Tripoli
Lori Tripoli is the editor and publisher of Bashful Adventurer. Based in the New York City vicinity, she writes about travel for a variety of publications.
Contact Lori at loritripoli @ bashfuladventurer.com.