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Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper

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In the year of 1495, Leonardo Da Vinci started to paint one of his most famous paintings titled “The Last Supper.” He began his work of art on the northern wall of the dining hall of Sta Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy, and finished this work in the year of 1498. “It measures fifteen by twenty-nine feet. It stands whole as of today, except for the construction of a doorway in 1653, eliminating the lower central area of the painting” (Last Supper-History). Leonardo had a new method and technique for his creation of “The Last Supper.” However, the medium that he decided to apply to his mural did not fit the medium that was once commonly used for mural paintings. His newly formed medium made it so that the pigment had to be rushed and applied quickly before the plaster completely dried. This made it difficult to make any changes during the process (Last Supper-History). …show more content…

He coated the wall with a base mixture of gesso, pitch, and mastic compounds. The base was supposed to absorb the tempera emulsion as well as protect it from moisture in the air. Soon the pigment came loose from the base and decay then proceeded. With the extreme changes in temperature, humidity, and moisture in the air led to the damage of Leonardo’s painting as well as the doubt in many people’s minds of his new technique (Last Supper-History). The reason behind Leonardo painting “The Last Supper” was Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, and a man whom Leonardo worked for almost two decades. The Duke wanted a painting of Jesus along with his Apostles at the last supper. This painting is known as remarkable for a couple of reasons. Reason number one is that each and every one of the disciples in the painting is revealing their emotions. Secondly, every element in the painting is directed towards Christ. “It's arguably the greatest example of one-point perspective ever created”

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