Draw the Last Supper. "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci

From October 15 to Sunday December 3, 2017 for 8 Sundays You can see Leonardo Da Vinci's masterpiece "The Last Supper" until 22.00.
The extended opening hours of the museum will increase the number of visitors by 3,000 people. The museum will be open until 22.00 (last opening at 21.45):
October 15
22 of October
29th of October
November 5 (free admission in honor of the Una Domenica al Museo initiative)
November 12
November 19
November 26
December 3 (free admission in honor of the Una Domenica al Museo initiative)
Only a certain part of the tickets can be pre-booked by phone 02 92800360, the rest of the tickets will be sold at the museum box office from 14.00 on the day of visiting the museum.

“The Last Supper” (“Cenacolo Vinciano”)

In the heart of Milan in the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie houses the greatest work of world art by Leonardo da Vinci “The Last Supper” (“Cenacolo Vinciano” in Italian ) . I would like to note that this work not a picture, namely fresco, which talented artist drew on the wall of the monastery refectory.

The fresco depicting the scene of Christ's last meal with his disciples was commissioned by the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Maria Sforzo. The painting was started by Leonardo in 1495 and completed in 1498; work proceeded intermittently.
The approximate dimensions of the fresco are 880 by 460 cm. It is noteworthy that the artist executed the work not on wet plaster, but on dry plaster, in order to be able to edit it several times. The artist applied a thick layer of egg tempra to the wall, which caused the destruction of the fresco 20 years after it was painted.

Fresco “The Last Supper”:

This fresco depicts the most scary tale betrayal and manifestation of the most selfless love. The main characters are the teacher and the student who betrayed him. Both know what will happen and both will not make an attempt to change anything.
The picture of the last meal of Jesus with the apostles was recreated by many painters, but no one, neither before nor after Leonardo da Vinci, was able to convey the drama of the New Testament narrative with such expressiveness. Unlike other artists, Leonardo did not paint an icon; he was interested in non-church dogmas, but human feelings The Savior and his disciples. Thanks to the techniques used by the master, observers seem to find themselves inside the fresco. No other painting on the theme of the Last Supper can compare with uniqueness of the composition and drawing of details Leonardo's masterpiece.

The work is believed to depict the moment when Jesus utters the words that one of the apostles will betray him (“and while they were eating, he said, “Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me”), and the reaction of each of them.
As in other depictions of the Last Supper of that time, Leonardo places those sitting at the table on one side so that the viewer can see their faces. Most previous writings on the subject excluded Judas, placing him alone at the opposite end of the table from where the other eleven apostles and Jesus sat, or depicting all the apostles except Judas with a halo. Judas clutches a small pouch, perhaps representing the silver he received for betraying Jesus, or an allusion to his role among the twelve apostles as treasurer. He was the only one with his elbow on the table. Knife in hand Petra, pointing away from Christ, perhaps refers the viewer to the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane during the arrest of Christ.

Gesture of Jesus can be interpreted in two ways. According to the Bible, Jesus predicts that his betrayer will reach out to eat at the same time he does. Judas reaches for the dish, not noticing that Jesus is also stretching out his right hand to him. At the same time, Jesus points to bread and wine, symbolizing the sinless body and shed blood respectively.
The figure of Jesus is positioned and illuminated in such a way that the viewer's attention is drawn primarily to him. The head of Jesus is at a vanishing point for all lines of perspective.

The painting contains repeated references to the number three:

The apostles sit in groups of three;
behind Jesus there are three windows;
the contours of the figure of Christ resemble a triangle.
The light illuminating the entire scene does not come from the windows painted behind, but comes from the left, just like real light from the window on the left wall.
In many places the picture passes golden ratio; for example, where Jesus and John, who is on his right, put their hands, the canvas is divided in this ratio.

How to visit the Last Supper fresco by Leonardo da Vinci in Milan:

Viewing of the fresco is carried out groups of up to 30 people. Be sure to book your ticket in advance, and the reservation must be paid immediately. There are many websites that sell tickets at exorbitant prices, but it is more profitable and reliable to buy on the official website of the Italian Ministry of Culture www.vivaticket.it.
Tickets can be purchased online, but this is very difficult and almost impossible during the peak tourist season, so it is advisable to take care of purchasing tickets well in advance of your trip.
20 minutes before the show, in the building to the left of the church, you need to exchange your reservation slips for the tickets themselves. The entrance to the “Last Supper” is also located there.

Ticket prices:

An adult ticket costs 10 euros + 2 euros booking fee.

Book by phone: +39 02 92800360
Ticket sales:
FROM DECEMBER 13 ticket sales for the month of March
FROM JANUARY 12 ticket sales for the month of April
FROM FEBRUARY 8 ticket sales for the month of May
FROM MARCH 8 ticket sales for the month of June

Opening hours of the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie:

8.15 -19.00, break from 12.00 to 15.00.
On holidays and holidays The church is open from 11.30 to 18.30. Closed: January 1, May 1, December 25.

How to get to Santa Maria delle Grazie:

by tram 18 towards Magenta, stop Santa Maria delle Grazie
Metro line M2, stop Conciliazione or Cadorna

On the eve of suffering on the cross and death, the Lord Jesus Christ celebrated His last meal with the disciples - the Last Supper. In Jerusalem, in the Zion Upper Room, the Savior and the apostles celebrated the Old Testament Passover, established in memory of the miraculous deliverance of the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. After eating the Old Testament Jewish Passover, the Savior took bread and, thanking God the Father for all His mercies to the human race, broke it and gave it to the disciples, saying: “This is My Body, which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Then He took a cup of grape wine, also blessed it and gave it to them, saying: “Drink from it, all of you; For this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Having given communion to the apostles, the Lord gave them the commandment to always perform this Sacrament: “Do this in remembrance of Me.” Since then, the Christian Church has celebrated the Sacrament of the Eucharist at every Divine Liturgy - the greatest sacrament of the union of believers with Christ.

Word for the Gospel reading on Maundy Thursday ( 15.04.93 )

The Supper of Christ is secret. Firstly, because the disciples gather around the Teacher, hated by the world, hated by the Prince of this world, who is in the ring of malice and mortal danger, which reveals the generosity of Christ and demands loyalty from the disciples. This is a requirement violated by the terrible betrayal on the part of Judas and imperfectly fulfilled by the other disciples, who fall into slumber from despondency, from gloomy forebodings, when they should be awake with Christ while praying for the Cup. Peter, in a daze of fear, renounces his Teacher with oaths. All the students run away.

Eucharist. Sofia Kyiv

But the line between fidelity, however imperfect, and completeness remains. This is a terrible line: an irreconcilable clash between His generosity and holiness, between the Kingdom of God, which He proclaims and brings to people, and the kingdom of the Prince of this world. This is so irreconcilable that, as we approach the mystery of Christ, we find ourselves faced last choice. After all, we are approaching Christ as close as believers of other religions cannot even imagine. They cannot imagine that it is possible to draw closer to God as we do when we eat Christ's flesh and drink His blood. It’s hard to think about, but what’s it like to say! What was it like for the apostles to hear for the first time the words with which the Lord established the truth! And woe to us if we do not experience at least a small fraction of the awe that should have gripped the apostles then.

last supper is a secret also because it must be hidden from hostile world, and because in its essence is the impenetrable mystery of the last condescension of the God-man to people: the King of kings and Lord of lords washes the feet of the disciples with His hands and thus reveals His humility to all of us. How can you beat this? Only one thing: to give yourself up to death. And the Lord does it.

We - weak people. And when our hearts become dead, we want well-being. But for now we have living heart, sinful, but alive - what does a living heart yearn for? About having an object of love, endlessly worthy of love, so that you can find such an object of love and serve him without sparing yourself.

All people's dreams are unreasonable, because they are dreams. But they are alive as long as the living heart strives not for well-being, but for sacrificial love, for us to be pleased with ineffable generosity towards us and for us to respond to this with some amount of generosity and faithfully serve the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who is so generous to His servants.

Our Lord, in the person of the apostles, called us his friends. This is more scary to think about than to think about the fact that we are God's servants. A slave can hide his eyes in a bow; a friend cannot avoid meeting the gaze of his friend - reproachful, forgiving, seeing the heart. The mystery of Christianity, in contrast to the imaginary mysteries with which false teachings seduce people, is like the depth of the most transparent water, impenetrable to view, which, however, is so great that we cannot see the bottom; Yes and there is no bottom.

What can you say this evening? Only one thing: that the Holy Gifts that will be brought out and given to us are the very body and blood of Christ that the apostles partook of in an unimaginable shock of their hearts. And this meeting of ours is that same lasting Last Supper. Let us pray that we do not betray God's secret - the secret that unites us with Christ, that we experience this warmth of mystery, that we do not betray it, that we respond to it with at least the most imperfect fidelity.

The Last Supper in icons and paintings

Simon Ushakov Icon “The Last Supper” 1685 The icon was placed above the Royal Doors in the iconostasis of the Assumption Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery

Dirk Bouts
Sacrament of Communion
1464-1467
Altar of Saint Peter's Church in Louvain

Washing the feet (John 13:1 – 20). Miniature from the Gospel and the Apostle, 11th century. Parchment.
Monastery of Dionysiatus, Athos (Greece).

Washing the feet; Byzantium; X century; location: Egypt. Sinai, monastery of St. Catherine; 25.9 x 25.6 cm; material: wood, gold (leaf), natural pigments; technique: gilding, egg tempera

Washing the feet. Byzantium, XI century Location: Greece, Phokis, Hosios Loukas monastery

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld The Last Supper Engraving 1851-1860 From illustrations for “The Bible in Pictures”

Washing the feet. Statue in front of Dallas Baptist University.

Vyacheslav Adrov:

Announcement...

In Milan, in the Church of Santa Maria della Grazie is famous fresco, which has haunted numerous researchers of the personality of its author for hundreds of years. Since this is Leonardo himself, it is believed that there must be some kind of secret or, at least, a riddle in his work. There are many ideas and versions known about the secret messages contained in the fresco. For example, Dan Brown's version, which caused a lot of noise in the art world. I, like everyone else, took a close look at the image and, guess what, it seems to me that I understood its additional meaning (if it was intended)! And Dan Brown's version is just a superficial reaction to the detail necessary to reflect the author's holistic intent. Moreover, there is a detail (a effeminate figure next to Christ) that carries a completely different meaning. No hints about the life partner of Christ!

In order to preserve the emotionality and dynamics of thoughts, I decided to write down thoughts and intellectual impulses as they arise and are realized. Thus, I maintained the atmosphere of research, writing down the next portion of mental developments; I still don’t know whether they will be useful in the future and, generally speaking, how will it all end? Will there be any interesting results? That's why the genre is indicated in the subtitle.

The mystery of Leonardo da Vinci's fresco "The Last Supper"

(detective investigation of one biased viewing of the famous fresco)

Part 1.

I start as usual. Returning from another trip organized by the “7 Peaks Club”, sitting in a rocking chair, wrapped in a blanket, looking at the raging fiery tongues of the fireplace stove and sipping... (insert yourself: pipe, cigar, cognac, Calvados,...), I thought about and I assessed the results of the trip and prepared for the next one. And then a reproduction of the fresco “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci caught my eye (or popped into my imagination). As befits a normal traveler, I, of course, was in that very refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan. And, of course, I admired (and now even more so) one of greatest creations master (although almost nothing is visible on it, photo 1).

Briefly, to refresh your memory. The fresco (although, in fact, this image is not a fresco due to the peculiarities of the technology for its creation) has dimensions of 450 * 870 cm and was created in the period from 1495 to 1498 by order of Duke Ludovico Sforza and his wife Beatrice d'Este. Because it was not created like a typical fresco - painted with egg tempera on a dry wall covered with layers of resin, plaster and mastic - it began to deteriorate very early and was restored many times. At the same time, the attitude of restorers towards it was not always distinguished by such reverence as is customary now - faces and figures were corrected, various technologies for applying paint and protective coating were used. When trying to move it to another place in 1821, it was almost destroyed. There is nothing to say about the attitude of the French occupiers towards it, who set up an armory and prison prisoners in the monastery (there was such an episode in the history of the refectory).

A little about the plot. It's inspired by biblical history about the last dinner Jesus had with his disciples, at which he said that one of those present would betray him. According to most art critics, Leonardo’s work most expressively of all similar works on this subject conveys the degree of the apostles’ emotional reaction to these words of Jesus.

How long has this fresco existed (more than 500 years), for the same number of years researchers and interpreters have been studying this work, finding or trying to find secret signs, symbols, riddles, messages,... There is surprise at the quality of the conveyed perspective, evidence of the use of the golden ratio, the search for the secret of the number 3 (3 windows, 3 groups of apostles, triangle figure of Christ). Someone sees on the fresco an image of Mary Magdalene (with the female symbol V and the symbol M associated with her name - this is about Dan Brown), or John the Baptist with his favorite gesture - the index finger raised up. I'm interested in all this, but not very much. As our man - an engineer - Leonardo must be practical, although historical setting makes his own adjustments to the need to use “Aesopian language”, and he could leave the DATE on his work! Which one? This is his choice, but the date is important for himself or for the entire World of the event. And I started looking for it in the image!

Let me remind you that the most reliable way of fixing dates, which does not depend on chronology systems, calendar reforms, the duration of the reigns of kings and dukes, the founding and destruction of cities, and even assigning the date of the creation of the World, is by the stars, i.e., drawing up a horoscope! And this method was widely used not only in the Middle Ages. You may ask why I suddenly decided that there might be a date on the image? It seems to me that the author gladly took advantage of the great chance associated with the number 12. 12 hours, 12 months, 12 signs of the Zodiac, 12 apostles,... Well, I’ll also say about the horoscope. It uniquely determines the date if the locations of even seven planets visible to the naked eye in the constellations at the time of observation are indicated. Repetitions of such combinations are very rare and occur after hundreds of thousands of years! (With fewer accurately indicated planets, the repetition period is shorter, but there are still very high chances of accurately indicating the date on historical period.) Because, modern calculation methods, based on the laws of celestial mechanics, make it possible to restore the position of the planets in the sky at any moment, then to determine the date, all that remains is to correctly set the initial data - that is, the location of the planets according to the constellations on the desired day.

So, I begin to peer and examine.

Apostles. Most likely (due to their number) these are symbols of the zodiac signs. But how can signs be distributed between characters, and who corresponds to which sign? Several comments immediately arise.

In many images of this plot, including on icons, judging by appearance characters, not only is the seating order inconsistent, but they also sit sometimes in a row, sometimes in a circle, sometimes in groups, that is, there seems to be no canonical order (traditional). For a long time, they could not identify all the characters in Leonardo’s image. Only four were reliably identified (out of 13!): Judas, John, Peter and Christ. Allegedly, in the 19th century, the diaries of Leonardo himself were “discovered” and everything was determined (there were also clues in the form of signatures under the characters on some modern copies of the fresco). Due to the dynamic arrangement of the figures - their “mixing”, “peeking out” from behind each other friend - there is a possibility that the constellations (if they are there) are not in zodiacal order.

One way or another, in accordance with prevailing ideas, the fresco depicts (from left to right, in the order of the FACES):

Bartholomew, Jacob Alpheus, Andrew, Judas Iscariot, Peter, John, Jesus Christ, Thomas, James Zebedee, Philip, Matthew, Judas Thaddeus, Simon.

To identify signs by which one could recognize allusions to the signs of the zodiac in the apostles, I tried to collect available factual information about the biographies of the characters, not yet knowing what of this might be useful (Table 1):

Their other names and nicknames;

The order of calling by Christ (only the first four are known);

Approximate age based on visual assessment of images (more by copy unknown artist(photo2);

The degree of kinship with Christ and the other apostles (who is interested in this topic, I recommend literature, except, of course, the Gospels: James D. Tabor “The Dynasty of Jesus” (AST, 2007), Michael Baigent “The Papers of Jesus” (Exmo, 2008), Robert Ambelain “ Jesus or Deadly Secrets Templars" (Eurasia, 2005), V.G. Nosovsky, A.T. Fomenko “Tsar of the Slavs” (Neva, 2005), “Apocryphal Tales (Patriarchs, Prophets and Apostles)”, ed. V. Vitkovsky (Amphora, 2005));

The occupation of the apostles before their ministry;

Circumstances of death;

Location of the graves and relics of the apostles.

I invite those who wish to clarify and add details to fill out the table more completely - it is very entertaining, and the information may be useful.

Finding information to fill out this table was very interesting and cognitive process, but it didn’t give me any ideas that I needed!

Let's continue. Since Leonardo arranged the apostles in groups of 3 people, and even mixed them up there, then maybe the order of the signs is not important for him? What if we play around with these threes - these are groupings of signs by types of elements?! Fire, earth, air, water? And what - 4 groups of 3 signs! Or maybe we should take into account the figure of Christ as a sign of the zodiac, and exclude Judas from consideration altogether!? After all, in almost all images of the Last Supper, artists separated Judas from the rest - either painted with very dark colors, or turned his face away from the viewer, or, as in the icons, deprived him, unlike the others, of a halo. And then - what sign can the figure of Christ represent? Maybe his sign is Capricorn? Then the division into groups seems to be broken and the division into groups itself loses its meaning (if there is one). And Leonardo's Judas visual means not very humbled. He, like 7 (!) other of the 12 apostles, is depicted in profile, but only slightly more turned away from the viewer.

Let's look further at the details of the image. Items on the table: maybe there are clues somewhere - filling and placement of glasses, placement of breads, plates, salt shakers, other items,...? Elements, colors of clothing,...? Hairstyles, degree of gray hair, presence and length of beard, ...? Stop! Beard! There are seven visible planets in total that were known before the invention of Galileo’s tube, together with the Sun and Moon, and also Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Thus, the maximum number of pointers to the planets is 7. We count the beards: in total, of different lengths, there are 8 of them. Together with the beard of Jesus. But maybe his beard shouldn’t be counted? I wonder who then is the Sun if not him?! Let's go further - hands. Who's holding what? Maybe some combinations on the fingers? Their relative position? We fill out the table further so that it is always before our eyes. Maybe not right away, but something will open up?

I'm rocking in a chair, sipping... Or maybe the bearded ones are after all planets, and, for example, some kind of comet? But, of the seven planets, two - female: Venus and the Moon, it’s somehow difficult to associate them with beards too. Let's take a closer look at the apostles: the artist gave two figures a clear effeminate appearance: John and Philip - both their faces and poses with crossed arms. Maybe this is a hint at “female planets”? I’m rocking in my chair again: Leonardo da Vinci during his lifetime did not intend to be famous for centuries and wrote the fresco for the Customer and his contemporaries, so that with a little mental effort they could understand his additional message (except for the semantic and aesthetic).

What's in Judas's hand? And Peter’s too? No, Judas apparently has a bag of silver, which he will soon receive, and Peter has a knife, probably as a symbol of his future (ostentatious?) determination in the process of apprehending Jesus. All this is semantic attributes.

Still, we need to decide. I'm putting forward a hypothesis. The viewer's gaze is instinctively drawn to the figure of Jesus - this is God, this is the Sun! On his right hand is a young, but very energetic and aggressive man(John), whom Jesus, like his brother Jacob of Zebedee, called Boanerges (Boanerges) - apparently “very, twice as energetic”! They reacted very aggressively and sometimes with anger to injustice, humiliation and insults and to things that were not going the way they would like! Moreover, completely in the style of the Caucasians, so that Christ had to restrain them! (this is where the previously collected information in table 1 came in handy -

This implies that they had appropriate hormonal levels and secondary sexual characteristics. And how do we see this aggressive person in Leonardo - yes, she is a humble girl, such that some ( Dan Brown) she is considered a woman - Mary Magdalene! With such an obvious discrepancy, Leonardo hints - this is the constellation Virgo! And now let us once again pay attention to Jacob of Zebedee, whose figure (and NOT FACE) is closest to the left of Christ. He spread his arms in different directions. According to commentators, he restrains the apostles who emotionally perceived the words of Christ (or, perhaps, physically protects Jesus from a possible uncontrolled release of energy (that’s him, Boanerges!). And what do I see? With his spread arms, he looks like... Libra! !! Then it turns out that Jesus the Sun is located between the constellations Virgo and Libra! And all the signs are lined up in the usual order - from Aries to Pisces! And where are the other planets besides the Sun? I get up to move to the rocking chair. I glance at laid out tables, printouts of the fresco. Mama Mia! (I hit myself on the forehead!) Yes, here they are, the signs of the planets!!! Simply obvious! In the most visible place! No racking your brains! I’ll write now. Eh, the ink in the pen is out! I’ll go fill it up hand, and I’ll rock a little in the chair. Will you wait?

I draw your attention - since we identified Jacob the Elder with Libra, this means that the constellations are not distributed in the order of the PERSONS, but in the order of the seated FIGURES!

Leonardo da Vinci. Last Supper. 1495-1498 Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazia, Milan.

Last Supper. Without exaggeration, the most famous wall painting. Although it is difficult to see her live.

It is not located in the museum. And in the same refectory of the monastery in Milan, where it was once created by the great Leonardo. You will only be allowed in with tickets. Which need to be purchased 2 months in advance.

I haven’t seen the fresco yet. But standing in front of her, questions would swirl in my head.

Why did Leonardo need to create the illusion of volumetric space? How did he create such diverse characters? Next to Christ is John or is it Mary Magdalene? And if Mary Magdalene is depicted, then who among the apostles is John?

1. Illusion of presence

I was planning to harmoniously fit my work into environment. He built a perfect perspective. Real space smoothly transitions into the depicted space.

The shadows of the plates and bread indicate that the Last Supper is illuminated from the left. There are just windows on the left in the room. The dishes and tablecloths were also painted the same as in the refectory itself.

Another interesting point. To enhance the illusion, Leonardo demanded that the door be walled up. On the wall where the fresco was supposed to appear.

The refectory was very popular in the city among the townspeople. Food was carried from the kitchen through this door. Therefore, the abbot of the monastery insisted on leaving her.

Leonardo got angry. Threatening that if he does not meet him, he will write him as Judas... The door was walled up.

They began to carry food from the kitchen along long galleries. She was cooling down. The refectory no longer brought in the same income. This is how Leonardo created the fresco. But he closed the profitable restaurant.

But the result amazed everyone. The first spectators were stunned. The illusion was created that you were sitting in the refectory. And next to you, at the next table, is the Last Supper. Something tells me that this kept the diners from gluttony.

After some time the door was returned. In 1566, the refectory was again connected to the kitchen. Christ's feet were “cut off” by the new doorway. The illusion was not as important as the hot food.

2. Grandiose work

When a work is ingenious, it seems that its creator had no difficulty in creating it. After all, that’s why he’s a genius! To release masterpieces one after another.

In fact, genius is in simplicity. Which is created by hard mental work. Leonardo stood for a long time in front of his work, thinking. Trying to find The best decision.

This irritated the already mentioned abbot of the monastery. He complained to the customer of the fresco. Ludovico Sforza. But he was on the master’s side. He understood that creating masterpieces is not the same as weeding a garden.

Long thoughts were not compatible with the fresco technique (painting on wet plaster). After all, it involves fast work. Until the plaster has dried. After which you can no longer make changes.

So Leonardo decided to take a risk. Applying oil paints on a dry wall. So he had the opportunity to work as much as he wanted. And make changes to what has already been written.

But the experiment was unsuccessful. After a couple of decades, the paint began to fall off due to dampness. For 500 years, the masterpiece was on the verge of complete destruction. And there is still little chance that our descendants will see it.

3. Psychological reaction

Such a variety of character reactions was not easy for the master. Leonardo understood that people with different characters react very differently to the same words.

To those gathered at one table in taverns, he told funny stories or unusual facts. And watched how they reacted. To then endow them with the gestures of their heroes.

And so we see how the 12 apostles reacted. To the unexpected words of Christ, “One of you will betray me.”

Bartholomew rose from the bench and leaned on the table. This impulse shows his readiness to act. As soon as he hears who the traitor is.

Andrey has a completely different reaction. In slight fright, he raised his hands to his chest with his palms facing the viewer. Like, this is definitely not for me, I’m clean.

Here is another group of apostles. Already by left hand Christ.

Jacob Zebedee was stunned by what he heard more than anyone else. He looked down, trying to comprehend what he had heard. Opening his arms, he holds back the approaching Thomas and Philip. Like, wait, let the Teacher continue.

Thomas points to the sky. God won't allow this to happen. Philip rushed to assure the Teacher that he could trust him. After all, he is not capable of this.

The reactions are very different. No one had ever depicted this before Leonardo.

You won’t see this even among Leonardo’s contemporaries. Like, for example, Ghirlandaio. The apostles react and talk. But somehow it’s too calm. Monotonous.

4. The main mystery of the fresco. John or Mary Magdalene?

By official version The Apostle John is depicted at the right hand of Christ. But he is depicted as so feminine that it is easy to believe in the legend about Mary Magdalene.

And the oval of the face is purely feminine with a pointed chin. And the brow ridges are too smooth. Also long Thin hair.

And even his reaction is purely feminine. What he/she heard made him/her feel uncomfortable. Helplessly, he/she clung to the Apostle Peter.

And his/her hands are folded limply. But before John was called by Christ, he was a fisherman. That is, those who pulled a multi-kilogram net from the water.

5. Where is John?

John can be identified in three ways. He was younger than Christ. As we know, before his calling he was a fisherman. He also has a brother, also an apostle. So we are looking for someone young, strong and similar to another character. Here are two contenders.

Although everything can be much more prosaic. The two characters resemble each other because the same person posed for the artist.

And John looks like a woman because Leonardo was inclined to depict androgynous people. Just remember the pretty angel from the painting “Madonna of the Rocks” or the effeminate “John the Baptist”.

The fresco was painted with a thick layer of egg tempera on dry plaster. Beneath the main layer of paint is a rough compositional sketch, a study in red, in a manner anticipating the usual use of cardboard. It's kind of preparation tool. It is known that the customer of the painting was the Duke of Milan Lodovico Sforza, at whose court Leonardo gained fame as a great painter, and not the monks of the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie. The theme of the picture is the moment when Jesus Christ announces to his disciples that one of them will betray him. He writes about this in the third chapter of his book “ Divine proportion» Pacioli. It was this moment - when Christ announces betrayal - that Leonardo da Vinci captured. To achieve accuracy and lifelikeness, he studied the poses and facial expressions of many of his contemporaries, whom he later depicted in the painting. The identities of the apostles have repeatedly been the subject of controversy, however, judging by the inscriptions on a copy of the painting kept in Lugano, these are (from left to right): Bartholomew, James the Younger, Andrew, Judas, Peter, John, Thomas, James the Elder, Philip, Matthew, Thaddeus and Simon Zelotes. Many art historians believe that this composition should be perceived as an iconographic interpretation of the Eucharist - communion, since Jesus Christ points with both hands to the table with wine and bread. Almost all researchers of Leonardo's work agree that perfect place to view the painting - from a height of approximately 13-15 feet above the floor and at a distance of 26-33 feet from it. There is an opinion - now disputed - that composition and its system of perspective are based on the musical canon of proportion. What gives The Last Supper its unique character is that, unlike other paintings, this kind it shows the amazing variety and richness of the characters' emotions caused by Jesus' words that one of his disciples would betray him. No other painting of the Last Supper can even come close to the unique composition and attention to detail in Leonardo's masterpiece. So what secrets could he encrypt in his creation? great artist? In The Discovery of the Templars, Clive Prince and Lynn Picknett argue that several elements of the structure of the Last Supper indicate symbols encrypted in it. First, they believe that the figure on the right hand of Jesus (to the viewer's left) is not John, but a woman.

She is wearing a robe, the color of which contrasts with the clothes of Christ, and she is tilted in the opposite direction from Jesus, who is sitting in the center. The space between this female figure and Jesus is shaped like the letter V, and the figures themselves form the letter M.

Secondly, in the picture, in their opinion, next to Peter a certain hand is visible, clutching a knife. Prince and Picknett claim that this hand does not belong to any of the characters in the film.

Thirdly, sitting directly to the left of Jesus (to the right for the audience), Thomas, addressing Christ, raised his finger.

And finally, there is a hypothesis that the Apostle Thaddeus sitting with his back to Christ is actually a self-portrait of Leonardo himself.

Let's look at each point in order. At close examination In the painting, it turns out that the character to the right of Jesus (to the viewer - to the left) really has feminine or feminine features. Prince and Picknett assure readers that under the folds of clothing one can even see female breast. Of course, Leonardo sometimes liked to give feminine features male figures and persons. For example, a careful examination of the image of John the Baptist shows that he is endowed with almost the features of a hermaphrodite with pale, hairless skin.
But what does it matter if in the painting “The Last Supper” Jesus and John (the woman) leaned in opposite directions, forming a space between them in the form of the letter V, and the contours of their bodies forming the letter M? Does this have some symbolic meaning? Prince and Picknett argue that this unusual arrangement of figures, one of which has distinctly feminine features, contains a hint that this is not John, but Mary Magdalene, and the V sign is a symbol of the sacred feminine principle. The letter M, according to their hypothesis, means the name - Mary/Magdalene. You can agree or disagree with this assumption, but no one will deny its originality and courage. Let's focus on the bodyless hand. Whose hand is visible on the left, next to the figure of Peter? Why is she clutching a dagger or knife so menacingly? Another oddity is that Peter’s left hand seems to be cutting the throat of the neighboring figure with the edge of his palm.

What did Leonardo mean by this? What does Peter's strange gesture mean? However, upon closer examination, it is clear that the hand with the knife still belongs to Peter, and does not exist on its own. Peter twisted his left hand, and therefore its position is clearly unusual and extremely awkward. As for the second hand, threateningly raised to John/Mary’s throat, there is an explanation for this: Peter simply puts his hand on his/her shoulder. Most likely, disputes on this matter will continue for a very long time. As for Thomas, sitting to the left of Jesus (to the right - for the viewer), he really raised up forefinger left hand in a clearly threatening manner. This gesture of John the Baptist, as Prince and Picknett call it, is present in many paintings by Leonardo, as well as other painters of the era. It supposedly symbolizes the underground stream of knowledge and wisdom. The fact is that John the Baptist actually played much more important role than the one assigned to him in Scripture. For those who wish to learn more about this, I recommend reading the book "The Discovery of the Templars." The Apostle Thaddeus depicted in the painting seems to bear some resemblance to Leonardo, if we compare his image with the famous self-portrait of the great artist. In many of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings of Jesus or the Holy Family, the same detail is noticeable: at least one of the figures has his back turned to the main character of the painting. For example, in the painting “Adoration of the Magi.” The recently completed restoration of The Last Supper has made it possible to learn a lot about this amazing picture. In it, and in many other paintings by Leonardo, there are actually hidden some secret messages and forgotten symbols. However, their true meaning It still remains not entirely clear to us what gives rise to more and more new guesses and assumptions. Be that as it may, much remains to be done in the future to unravel these mysteries. I would like us to be able to comprehend even to the smallest extent the plans of the great master.