COVE

Leonardo Da Vinci was commissioned in 1494 to depict The Last Supper, or Il Cenacolo, in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Grieve).  His painting shows the scene of the popular Bible story, where Jesus Christ and his disciples gathered for a final meal the night before Christ's crucifixion.  Da Vinci follows the Medieval trope of presenting the Disciples' reaction to the claim that one of them will choose to betray Jesus, but the painter uses techniques that stray from commonplace.  Renaissance artists painted using watercolor-like pigments on wet canvas, but Da Vinci prepared his tempera paint on the dry, plastered wall of the monastery using two layers of gesso (Taddei).  In The Last Supper, the artist places all of the guests on one side of the table, differing from the popular Giotto di Bondone portrayal, and this is significant because as Jesus opens his arms, the depth perception of the audience feels almost an invitation by Jesus to join him (Grieve).  Da Vinci places a strong emphasis on the gestures and position of the Apostles, aiming to portray the emotional and physical shock experienced, and he also uses detailed linear perspective to coordinate the central light and the placement of Jesus at the center (Hadi).  The work was finally finished in 1498, with Luca Pacioli, a mathematician who worked with Da Vinci, revealing the work as complete in De Divina Proportione (Grieve).

Sources:

Grieve, Amanda. (2018). "The Scientific Narrative of Leonardo's Last Supper." Best Integrated Writing, vol. 5.

Hadi, Seyyed Mohammed. “Investigation of Da Vinci's The Last Supper Inspiration Origin on Canonical Gospels.” Bagh-e Nazar, vol. 14, no. 46, Apr. 2017, pp. 27–35.