Artibus et Historiae no. 55 (XXVIII)
2007, ISSN 0391-9064Up
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JACK WASSERMAN - Rethinking Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper
The article argues two promises. The first concerns the fact that Leonardo's Last Supper in the Dominican refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan alludes to the forthcoming betrayal, as was stated already by Leonardo's contemporaries. However, the rendering of the theme breaks with tradition in that Judas and Christ do not reach in common for a plate. Thus, the plate situated before St. John is irrelevant to the betrayal iconography, contrary to the common belief.
The other premise derives from Johannes Antoniewicz's attempt to demonstrate more than a century ago the presence in the painting of a second theme, the initiation of the sacrament of the Eucharist. His hypothesis has not yet attained consensus. However, the theme is central to the painting's iconography, but it is rendered subtly and in a manner as to make the liturgical ceremony acceptable in the context of an unsanctified refectory.
