Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper by Cristina Gee

Christ's Final Meal

cgee1 — 2015-03-30 20:52:51 UTC

One of the World's Most Famous Paintings

cgee1 — 2015-04-01 01:49:25 UTC

Located in Milan, Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper painting remains one of the most insightful, symbolic pieces of artwork since its release around 1495. The portrait depicts the precise moment in which Christ predicted a betrayal against him during his last meal. Da Vinci painted on stone, and made changes as he painted. When finished, he added tempera and oils over his work. Since its creation during the Italian Renaissance, the painting continues to grab attention through Da Vinci's unique use of perspective, symmetry, and emotion. For example, the agitated movements and reactions from the apostles intricately display their shock. Da Vinci's tedious details in this painting help illustrate the original Christian gospel story. Despite poor preservation, the Last Supper painting is seen by millions every year.

Sources

cgee1 — 2015-04-01 02:15:03 UTC

http://www.catholic.com/documents/cracking-the-da-vinci-code

http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-paintings/last-supper-leonardo-davinci.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci

http://arthistory.about.com/od/leonardo/ig/Art-in-The-Da-Vinci-Code/index.htm

http://www.italianrenaissance.org/a-closer-look-leonardo-da-vincis-last-supper/

How Does This Connect to Today?

cgee1 — 2015-04-01 02:29:47 UTC

"One of You Will Betray Me" -Mark 14:18

cgee1 — 2015-04-01 04:15:52 UTC

Unlike many other Last Supper paintings, Da Vinci chose not to separate Judas from the other apostles. Da Vinci chose to tightly fit everyone on one side to illustrate the chaos of Jesus' fate. Leonardo's painting is dramatic in that Jesus appears calm and collected, while his apostles appear emotionally distraught from his news. Judas is holding a bag of money, implying that he is the traitor.

Leonardo Da Vinci

cgee1 — 2015-04-01 05:15:23 UTC

Leonardo Da Vinci was born in Florence in 1452. Da Vinci is considered one of the masters of the Renaissance for his expertise in realism and perspective. He is known for a variety of talents including, but not limited to, engineering, painting, inventing and sculpting. Although respected for his advancements in anatomy and other sciences, he is highly praised for his artwork. Da Vinci was personally instructed by the Duke of Milan to paint The Last Supper in 1495. He was asked to recreate the scene of Jesus' final supper with detailed reactions from his twelve disciples. Leonardo finished this task in three years before it joined a convent. To this day, The Last Supper resides in the Santa Maria delle Grazia in Milan.

cgee1 — 2015-04-01 05:17:49 UTC

Francesco Melzi's portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci

Summary

cgee1 — 2015-04-01 06:04:43 UTC

The Last Supper

cgee1 — 2015-04-01 06:06:09 UTC

originally 15 x 29 foot mural

Geometric Symbolism

cgee1 — 2015-04-01 06:17:41 UTC

Da Vinci used perspective to give three dimensional qualities to his painting. Notice Christ is the center of the portrait in perfect symmetry. Da Vinci used vector lines to define a focal point and depth. He also carefully placed the disciples in groups of three, which can be interpreted as a representation of the theological virtues of faith, chastity, and hope. There are also four groups of apostles, symbolizing what are known as the earthly fours. They are prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.

Da Vinci's Influential Artwork - Connection to Today

cgee1 — 2015-04-01 06:55:53 UTC

The Last Supper left a lasting impression on audiences around the world because it displayed ideas of humanism in the expressions and emotions of each individual apostle. Unlike many previous depictions of Jesus' last supper, Leonardo's portrayed each person with a range of human emotion. The emphasis placed on each person in the photo has led to deep analysis of Da Vinci's art work. For example, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is a best selling fiction novel that explores hidden messages in Da Vinci's paintings, including The Last Supper. Da Vinci's Last Supper influenced artwork forever. Before him, artists were commonly anonymous and unimportant to the art itself. Because Da Vinci implanted symbolism and psychological states in his work, audiences everywhere related to the emotion within the picture. Da Vinci made a name for himself by including the realistic aspect of aerial perspective. Since the Renaissance, artists around the world have placed the same aspects of realism and human dignity into their work.

cgee1 — 2015-04-01 20:36:36 UTC

Performance Task - The World's Most Analyzed Painting

cgee1 — 2015-04-02 02:56:44 UTC

Performance Task - Movie Trailer

cgee1 — 2015-04-02 07:34:46 UTC

My performance task was a movie trailer that was meant to explore why Da Vinci's The Last Supper has been studied around the world for centuries. If Da Vinci had rose to fame in 2015, there is no doubt that the media would make a movie about his work. I focused on a few minor details since they are some of the most analyzed aspects of the painting. For example, Judas and Jesus both grab for the same bowl. One might conclude that this represents Judas' disloyalty and Christ's willingness to share and reach out to him. In any case, I showed the perspective and symbolism to exemplify the humanism within this picture, which influenced generations of artists after Da Vinci.