Table of content

 

The Background

The subjects

Damages

Restoration

Hidden Symbols

Numbers

Melody

Mary Magdalene

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Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper represents the maximum peak of the technique reached during the Italian Renaissance. But this is not only a work of incredible value, according to many, it hides secret messages within itself. Is he the disciple called John or Mary Magdalene? What are the new symbols behind this fresco? All of this will be explained.

The Background

Before we dive into the painting itself, let's discuss some background information.

The Last Supper is a mural painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, dated 1495–1498. The painting represents the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus with the Twelve Apostles, specifically, the moment after Jesus announces that one of his apostles will betray him.

The work was commissioned as part of a plan of renovations to the church and its convent buildings by Leonardo's patron Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. The Fresco covers an end wall of the dining hall at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy.

The subjects

All twelve apostles have different reactions to the news, with various degrees of anger and shock. From left to right, according to the apostles' heads, we have:

Bartholomew, James, son of Alphaeus, and Andrew form a group of three; all are surprised.

Judas Iscariot, Peter, and John form another group of three. Judas is wearing red, blue, and green and is in shadow, looking withdrawn and taken aback by the sudden revelation of his plan. He is clutching a small bag, perhaps signifying the silver given to him as payment to betray Jesus, or perhaps a reference to his role as a treasurer.[15] He is also tipping over the salt cellar, which may be related to the near-Eastern expression to "betray the salt" meaning to betray one's master. He is the only person to have his elbow on the table and his head is also vertically the lowest of anyone in the painting. 

Peter wears an expression of anger and appears to be holding a knife, foreshadowing his violent reaction in Gethsemane during the arrest of Jesus. Peter is leaning towards John and touching him on the shoulder, in reference to John's Gospel where he signals the "beloved disciple" to ask Jesus who is to betray him.[a] 

The youngest apostle, John, appears to faint and leans towards Peter.

Jesus

Thomas, James the Greater, and Philip are the next group of three. Thomas is clearly upset; the raised index finger foreshadows his incredulity of the Resurrection. James the Greater looks stunned, with his arms in the air. Meanwhile, Philip appears to be requesting some explanation.

Matthew, Jude Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot are the final group of three. Both Thaddeus and Matthew are turned toward Simon, perhaps to find out if he has any answer to their initial questions.

In common with other depictions of the Last Supper from this period, Leonardo seats the diners on one side of the table, so that none of them has his back to the viewer. The tablecloth is white with blue stripes, which are colours commonly associated with the Jewish people. 

The angles and lighting draw attention to Jesus, the painting demonstrated Da Vinci's masterful use of perspective as it "draws our attention to the face of Christ at the center of the composition, and Christ's face, through his down-turned gaze, directs our focus along the diagonal of his left arm to his hand and therefore, the bread."

Damages

Before revealing the symbols that this fresco hides, let's talk about the damage it has suffered and the restorations.

Leonardo, as a painter, favored oil painting, a medium that allows the artist to work slowly and make changes with ease. Fresco painting does not facilitate either of these objectives. 

Rather than using the proven method of painting on walls, Leonardo painted The Last Supper in tempera, the medium generally used for panel painting. 

This was a method that had been described previously by Cennino Cennini in the 14th century. However, Cennini described the technique as being riskier than fresco painting and recommended the use of painting in a more superficial medium for the final touches only.[13]

Because Sforza had ordered the church to be rebuilt hastily, the masons filled the walls with moisture-retaining rubble.[12] The painting was done on a thin exterior wall, so the effects of humidity were felt keenly, and the paint failed to properly adhere to it. Because of the method used, soon after the painting was completed on 9 February 1498 it began to deteriorate.

The technique used to paint the fresco was not the best, plus the place chosen was wrong due to the humidity conditions. Furthermore, over the centuries, various historical facts have had relevance in ruining the work even more.

In 1796, French revolutionary anti-clerical troops used the refectory as an armory and stable;[26] they threw stones at the painting and climbed the stairs to gouge out the Apostles' eyes. Goethe wrote that in 1800 the room was flooded with half a meter of water after a heavy storm.[12] The refectory was used as a prison; [when?] it is not known whether any of the prisoners may have damaged the painting.

During World War II, on 15 August 1943, the refectory was struck by Allied bombing; protective sandbagging prevented the painting from being struck by bomb splinters,[28] but it may have been damaged by the vibration.

Restorations

The painting's appearance by the late 1970s had badly deteriorated. From 1978 to 1999, Pinin Brambilla Barcilon guided a major restoration project to stabilize the painting and reverse the damage caused by dirt and pollution. The eighteenth- and nineteenth-century restoration attempts were also reversed. Since it had proved impractical to move the painting to a more controlled environment, the refectory was instead converted to a sealed, climate-controlled environment, which meant bricking up the windows. Then, a detailed study was undertaken to determine the painting's original form, using scientific tests (especially infrared resectoscope and microscopic core samples), and original cartoons preserved in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. Some areas were deemed unrestorable. These were re-painted using watercolor in subdued colors intended to indicate they were not original work, while not being too distracting.[30]

This restoration took 21 years and, on 28 May 1999, the painting was returned to display. Intending visitors were required to book ahead and could only stay for 15 minutes.

Hidden Symbols

Numbers

Numbers proliferate within the Last Supper, particularly the numbers three and four and their mathematical multiples. The apostles are arranged in four sets of three. There are four sets of tapestries on each wall with three spaces between them. The central back wall has three open windows framed by four structural supports. There are six (3 plus 3) rows of coffers that hover over the twelve apostles (3 times 4). 

Symbolically, the number three traditionally represents divinity, wholeness, the heavenly realm: It takes three sides to make a complete triangle, which is the minimum number of lines needed to create a closed geometric whole. Indeed, Jesus Christ, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end of mankind, is formed within the shape of a triangle in the painting, which unambiguously underscores this point. These ideas became manifested in Christian catechism as the Trinity. Indeed, triangular-based compositions proliferate in Christian art for precisely this reason. On the other hand, the number four connotes the earth, as understood as a finite space. The four cardinal directions and the four terminal sides of a square underscore the number’s equation to earthly being. These become symbolically expressed in the number of the Gospels, God’s Word in an earthly setting.

In terms of the painting, then, what does the overwhelming use of numbers signify within this symbolically-saturated scene?  Quite possibly the nature of God and how a man can know and communicate with him. 

Melody

According to Italian musician Giovanni Maria Pala, da Vinci incorporated musical notes in "The Last Supper."

If we look at the painting, especially the tablecloth, it is possible to draw horizontal lines. These imaginary lines hit the pieces of bread on the tablecloth, just as if they were notes. If we draw lines on the characters in the scene. We see that the hands also represent notes. So after finding these reference points, we understand that Leonardo traced notes that can be played by an organ. The melody completes the work and gives a dramatic sense.

Mary Magdalene

Immediately to Jesus’ right – where one might expect to find Saint Peter, the de facto head of the 12 apostles and, in Christ’s own words, “the rock upon which I will build my church”—is a swooning, long-haired, androgynous figure, whose downcast eyes and expression of ineffable sadness mirror that of Jesus himself. Officially, this is Saint John, the youngest apostle, and commonly referred to (in his own Gospel, at least) as “the disciple who Jesus loved.” But is this delicate, mournful figure really Saint John?  

For many scholars, the person Leonardo sat at Jesus’ right hand was not John, or indeed any other man… but rather Mary Magdalene, one of Christ’s few female followers and the only one of his disciples who would be present at both his crucifixion and burial, as well as being the first to witness his resurrection. She—and not John—was the disciple who Jesus loved.  Between the figure of Christ and the alleged Mary Magdalene, we see a shape, the "V". This symbolizes the belly of a woman.

All of which raises the question: Why would Leonardo not only include her in his masterpiece, but also place her at the most exalted position at the table? 

Most modern viewers of The Last Supper will know Mary Magdalene from her role in Dan Brown’s 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code, which not only claims the figure in the painting to be her, but also goes on to suggest that she and Jesus had a sexual relationship.  But Mary was already a central—and controversial—figure in the Christian church when Leonardo toiled in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, 500 years before Dan Brown wrote his best seller.  She is mentioned more in the four “canonical” gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) than any woman other than Jesus’ mother, and more often than most of the other apostles. In the Gospel of John, she alone is the first to see the risen Christ – and is sent by Jesus to tell the other apostles of his resurrection, giving her the status of “apostle of the apostles.”  

Whether, as Dan Brown’s novel claims, Jesus and Mary Magdalene’s unusually close relationship culminated in marriage, and even children, remains unproven. But, given that Leonardo was also an exceptional scholar and that Mary was the patron of the Dominican Order for whom the mural was painted in the first place, it is by no means unthinkable that, whether out of theological precocity, loyalty to the order who commissioned him, or just plain mischief, he would include her in his depiction of the apostles’ moment of crisis… and that, of them all, the “one who best understood” Jesus’ teachings should be the only one among them not to react with fear, shock, or disbelief.