Last Supper in Christian art
The Last Supper of Jesus and the Twelve Apostles has been a popular subject in Christian art,[1] often as part of a cycle showing the Life of Christ.
[1][5] The earliest known written reference to the Last Supper is in Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians (11:23–26), which dates to the middle of the first century, between AD 54–55.
[2] In spite of near unanimous assent on the historicity of the evidence, one scholar comments that "The motif of the Last supper appears neither among the paintings of the catacombs nor the sculptures on sarcophagi ...
[9] A clearer case is the mosaic in the Basilica of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy, where a similar meal scene is part of a cycle depicting the life of Jesus and involves clear representation of him and his disciples.
Byzantine artists sometimes used semi-circular tables in their depictions, but they focused on the Communion of the Apostles more frequently than on the reclining figures having a meal.
As artists became increasingly interested in realism and the depiction of space, a three-sided interior setting became more clearly shown and elaborate, sometimes with a landscape view behind, as in the wall-paintings by Leonardo da Vinci and Perugino.
The food on the table often includes a paschal lamb; in Late Antique and Byzantine versions fish was the main dish.
[12] The first episode, much the most common in Western Medieval art,[13] is the dramatic and dynamic moment of Jesus' announcement of his betrayal.
[15] The second scene shows the institution of the Eucharist, which may be shown as either the moment of the consecration of the bread and wine, with all still seated, or their distribution in the first Holy Communion, technically known in art history as the Communion of the Apostles (though in depictions set at the table the distinction is often not made), which is common in very early depictions and throughout Byzantine art, and in the West reappears from the 14th century onwards.
It is recorded in John 13:1–15, as preceding the meal, and subsequently became a feature of the liturgy of the Holy Week and year-round monastic hospitality at various times and places, being regularly performed by the Byzantine emperors on Maundy Thursday for example, and at times being part of English Royal Maundy ceremonies performed by the monarch.
The subject had various theological interpretations which affected the composition, but gradually became less common in the West by the Late Middle Ages, though there are at least two large examples by Tintoretto, one originally paired with a Last Supper.
By this point Judas Iscariot is no longer present, having left the supper; it is mostly found in Italian trecento painting.
[23] Leonardo balanced the varying emotions of the individual apostles when Jesus stated that one of them would betray him, and portrayed the various attributes of anger, surprise and shock.
This was delivered in 1573 as a Last Supper to the Dominicans of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice for their refectory, but Veronese was called before the Inquisition to explain why it contained "buffoons, drunken Germans, dwarfs and other such scurrilities" as well as extravagant costumes and settings, in what is indeed a fantasy version of a Venetian patrician feast.
Other panels show the Protestant theologians Philipp Melanchthon and Johannes Bugenhagen, pastor of the church, though not in biblical scenes.
[31] The Sacrament of the Last Supper, Salvador Dalí's depiction, combines the typical Christian themes with modern approaches of Surrealism and also includes geometric elements of symmetry and polygonal proportion.
