Leonardo da Vincis The Last Supper Essay Example For Students

Leonardo da Vincis The Last Supper Essay Leonardos Last Supper is a priceless piece of art with much hidden meaning and obvious talents bestowed upon a wall. Under the study of Verrocchio as a painter and a sculptor, he was able to use his skills in creating a very detailed and a very naturalistic piece of work that would be remembered for hundreds of years. He was also able to create characters with amazing individuality. Not only was his portrayal of the characters magnificent, but the symbolism he used which emphasized the story being told in the Last Supper. Lodovico Sforza chose Leonardo to create The Last Supper in the refectory of the Dominican Church of S. Maria delle Grazie in Milan. The Abate of the S. Maria delle Grazie saw Leonardo work from morning until night on The Last Supper without eating. Although, there were times he would stop painting for days at a time; or, he would work on a specific character for just a few moments and then leave to continue working on it later. He worked on it from 1495 thru 1498 Strauss, 27. Before Leonardo began painting the actual portrait, he put down a substance which was suppose to absorb the tempora and protect the tempora from the moisture on the wall. Unfortunately, the substance was proved unsuccessful, and by 1517 it began to deteriorate. In May 1556 a painter Giovanni Batista Armenini said that the painting was so badly affected that nothing is visible but a mass of blotsHeydenreich, 18. The painting has continued to decay in the following centuries. It was further damaged by restorations made by careless artists and by the addition of a doorway put in the lower part of the painting. Yet even to this day his painting The Last Supper is widely known and visited by many tourists each year. The remembrance of the Last Supper could be due to the sacredness of the parting meal. It is quite obvious that the skill used in the creation of the Last Supper was magnificent. Although, the way Leonardo allows its viewers to depict the scene from a specific point in the Bible adds to the importance and significance of the painting in which no other artist could even compare. He does allow the viewer to recognize this scene by the gestures of both the Lord and the Apostles. The Lord sits ever so quietly while the Apostles rise in reaction to what the Lord had just announced. It is rather obvious that Leonardo chose the critical moment after the Lord had stated, Verily I say unto you that one of you shall betray me, because of the emotions that evolve in this specific scene Matt. 26. 21. He took much time to express every detail of each Apostle and the Lord. Leonardo had even wrote in one of his notebooks that A good painter has two chief objects to paint man and the intention of his soul. The former is easy, the latter hard because he has to represent it by the attitude and movement of the limbsHeydenreich, 27. For example, the Lord is very relaxed with his arms resting on the table which adds to the portrayal of His greatness. He also emphasized the Lords greatness by giving Him a serious attitude and by presenting Him as untouchable with the space between Himself and the Apostles. The distance put between them is called the spacial perspective, which is one of the techniques Leonardo feels is important in naturalistic art. Although, the Apostles are painted in a more restless fashion. They are all facing different ways and seem to be jumping out of their seats. Even the grouping of the apostles in three was done intentionally. He used four gr! oups of three Apostles in each group in order to symbolize the Holy Trinity which means three, and the four groups were used to symbolize the Gospels and the Cardinal Virtues . He was very cautious in every aspect of his painting from the placement of the figures to the movement they each possessed. Leonardo had to create actions and various postures which would be appropriate for each figure in order to keep them from looking as if they were brothers. Monica Strauss stated that in her research she had found that for the first time in the history of the subject, Leonardo had distinguished each one by appearance and gestureStrauss, 27. For each of the twelve Apostles he had to not only resort to the historical information on their names and on their appearances but also by the portrayal of their specific qualities as they are known to us from the Gospels. For instance, Judas was put outside the circle of the innocent Apostles and only his shadowed profile can be found. Renaissance Art of Leonardo Da Vinci EssayThe Last Supper portrayed very individualistic characters which have made Leonardos piece of work stand out from all the others who also have tried to create the Last Supper; but, talented Leonardo was able to perfect his creation with his perspective of atmosphere and color. Leonardo had said, If we see that the true quality of colours is known through light, it is to be concluded that where there is more light, the true quality of the illuminated colour is better seen; and where there is more darkness, the colour is tinged with the colour of that darkness, Heydenreich, 65. Later he concluded with, Nothing ever looks to be its real colour, if the light which strikes it is not all of that colour, Heydenreich, 65. He used his theory in his painting to make it more realistic. He used two sources of light which came from the last gleams of the dying day which entered from behind the window with its charming view of the countryside and from the window in the refectory itself. He claimed to have painted in tones of light, when he created his Last Supper Heydenreich, 66. Rosci had said that it is possible that he may have given the advice on the construction of the rectangular refectory because of the illusion the light gives the paint! ing 108. The two zones of light make it possible for Leonardo to give his characters a very finely graduated relief Heydenreich, 70. Leonardo caused the colors of Christs garments, a red tunic and a blue cloak, to reflect in the pewter plate in front of him; and, similarly the plate in front of Philip reflects the red of his cloak. The colors of the Apostles robes are distributed across the painting in a wonderful array of colors. To the right of the Lord, the pale green tunic of James the Less forms a transition between the Lords blue cloak and the red robe of Philip, whose blue sleeves are just a shade brighter than the tone of Christs cloak. There is also a mixture of colors in the second group on the right of the Lord. Matthew is clothed in bright blue, which together with Judes ochre tunic and Simons violet cloak forms a perfect three note chord. Even in the group to the left of the Lord, consisting of John, Peter, and Judas; emphasizes the blending of colors. Judass greyish blue garment is the only one whose tone remains indefinite and dull which was formed from Johns dark, rust red cloak and bluish green tunic and Peters dark blue sleeve. In the outer left hand group, which stands in the darker background, Andrews green cloak over a yellow garment, James the Greaters reddish clothing, and Bartholomews violet blue tunic and dark olive cloak form a carefully equivalent to the outer right hand group, which stands in bright light. From one side of the Lord Jesus to the other the colors go from light primary tones to dark subtle blends. All of this coloration is due to the effect that light has o! n colors. Leonardo really believed that the perspective of light was important because it ensured to make the Last Supper as realistic as possible. Leonardo believed that naturalization was harmony between mental and physical motion. He accomplished the correspondence between physical movement and mental emotion by the pause between two great emotions which are the momentarily stiffening at an extreme point of excitement and at the horror of being startled out of tranquility Heydenreich, 67. The painting portrays both expression and emotion. This combination complements each other. The expressions allow the viewers to see the emotions the characters are feeling. Their frozen movement allows one to see they are human. We can see both their outward and inward reactions. It is as if Leonardo had been there, and he had taken a picture of the marvelous meal. He definitely accomplished his goal in portraying his Last Supper as a realistic piece of art. The symbolism, the individualized personalities of the characters, and the skills such as the light perspective and spacial perspective blended together to form a photograph-like painting.