50 Fun Facts About The Last Supper

Who painted The Last Supper in Milan in the 1490s?

It is his largest work apart from the Sala delle Asse, and many see it as inaugurating the High Renaissance.

In which building is the mural housed?

It covers an end wall of the refectory; the opposite wall bears Montorfano's Crucifixion.

Which Gospel's account of the moment does the painting follow?

It captures the instant after Jesus announces that one of the apostles will betray him.

Who commissioned the painting?

He planned to turn the church into a family mausoleum; Sforza coats of arms fill the lunettes above the mural.

How large is The Last Supper?

That is roughly 15 by 29 feet, covering the whole end wall of the dining hall.

In what medium did Leonardo paint the mural, instead of true fresco?

He wanted to work slowly and revise, but the experimental method meant the paint began deteriorating almost at once.

In which year was the 21-year restoration led by Pinin Brambilla Barcilon completed?

The project ran from 1978 to 1999; since then visitors must book ahead and are limited to 15-minute slots.

Whose face did Leonardo threaten to use for Judas if he could not find a suitably villainous model?

The prior had grumbled to Sforza about Leonardo's 'laziness' as he wandered Milan looking for a criminal to copy.

Which friend advised Leonardo to leave Christ's face unfinished?

He argued no face lovelier than those of the two Jameses could be imagined; Leonardo apparently agreed.

How are the twelve apostles arranged in the painting?

The number three recurs: three windows behind Jesus, and his figure forms a triangle.

What is Judas shown tipping over on the table?

The near-Eastern phrase 'to betray the salt' means to betray one's master; he also clutches a small money bag.

Which apostle appears to hold a knife, foreshadowing Gethsemane?

He leans toward John, prompting the beloved disciple to ask Jesus who the betrayer is.

Which apostle raises an index finger, foreshadowing his later doubt?

He sits in the group with James the Greater, whose arms are flung up, and Philip, who seems to ask for an explanation.

How did most earlier painters mark Judas out from the other apostles?

Leonardo instead kept everyone on one side of the table and let Judas lean back into shadow.

Where does the vanishing point of the painting's perspective lines fall?

The perspective and lighting draw the eye to Christ, and his downturned gaze leads along his arm to the bread.

What colours is the tablecloth, in the painting's only overt reference to the diners' Jewish identity?

The colours were commonly associated with the Jewish people.

Which mathematician friend called the work 'a symbol of man's burning desire for salvation'?

Cardano, by contrast, described the fading painting in 1532 as 'blurred and colorless'.

Which pupil's near-full-size copy hangs in London's Royal Academy of Arts?

Cesare da Sesto's copy is in Switzerland and Solari's is at Tongerlo Abbey in Belgium.

When was the painting completed?

Deterioration set in soon after; by 1517 it was flaking and by 1556 Vasari called it a 'muddle of blots'.

Which French king considered removing the painting from its wall in 1499?

Napoleon later commissioned a life-size mosaic copy that stands in Vienna's Minoritenkirche.

What was cut through the bottom of the painting in 1652?

Later bricked up, its arch shape is still visible; early copies suggest Jesus's feet were posed to foreshadow the crucifixion.

What did French revolutionary troops do to the painting in 1796?

They used the refectory as an armoury and stable; it later served as a prison.

Which restorer badly damaged the centre in 1821 by trying to detach it as if it were a fresco?

An expert in moving whole frescoes, he only then realised Leonardo's work was tempera and tried to glue bits back.

How was the painting saved when Allied bombs hit the refectory in August 1943?

The wall stood while much of the room was wrecked; vibration may still have caused damage.

How long did the major restoration led by Pinin Brambilla Barcilon take?

Windows were bricked up to seal the climate, and unrestorable areas were repainted in subdued watercolour.

How long may visitors stay in front of the painting?

Booking ahead is required to protect the sealed, climate-controlled refectory.

Which art historian and ArtWatch founder was a fierce critic of the 1999 restoration?

ArtWatch UK's Michael Daley objected to Christ's right sleeve becoming 'muff-like drapery'.

Which artist painted The Sacrament of the Last Supper in 1955, with a blond, clean-shaven Jesus?

It is among the most viewed works at Washington's National Gallery of Art.

Whose Last Supper series, shown in Milan in 1987, was his final body of work?

Dealer Alexander Iolas commissioned it shortly before the artist's death.

Which 1972 Mary Beth Edelson collage put O'Keeffe, Ono and others over Christ and the apostles?

Mary Beth Edelson's image includes 82 women, among them Georgia O'Keeffe, Yoko Ono and Louise Bourgeois.

Which sculptor made a life-size assemblage titled Self-Portrait Looking at The Last Supper?

The 1982-84 work of wood, plaster and aluminium is in New York's Metropolitan Museum.

Which figure does The Da Vinci Code claim is really Mary Magdalene?

Art historians identify the androgynous figure as John; Leonardo would have had no reason to disguise Mary, patron of the Dominicans.

Which earlier book, by Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln, seeded the Magdalene speculation?

Picknett and Prince's The Templar Revelation (1997) developed the idea further before Dan Brown.

Which earlier Renaissance painter actually did include Mary Magdalene in a Last Supper?

Ross King notes her presence would not have been controversial, since she was venerated as 'Apostle to the Apostles'.

On which day do Christians especially commemorate the Last Supper?

The meal is the scriptural basis for the Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper.

Which New Testament book contains the earliest known mention of the Last Supper?

Paul's letter predates the written Gospels; five New Testament books mention the meal.

What does Jesus do before the meal in John's Gospel that the Synoptics omit?

Peter objects until Jesus says 'Unless I wash you, you have no part with me'.

During which festival week do the Gospels place the Last Supper?

The Synoptics describe it as a Passover meal, days after the triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

How many times does Jesus predict Peter will deny him before morning?

After the third denial the rooster crowed and Peter wept bitterly.

What is the traditional Jerusalem site of the Last Supper called?

The 'Upper Room' on Mount Zion lies just outside the Old City walls.

What term do the Eastern Orthodox use for the meal?

The Russian Orthodox also call it the 'Secret Supper'.

Whose depiction of the Last Supper is unusual for including servants carrying dishes?

Dalí's version, by contrast, mixes Christian themes with Surrealism.

Whose Crucifixion fresco covers the wall opposite Leonardo's mural in the refectory?

Leonardo added tempera figures of the Sforza family to that fresco, and they have deteriorated much like The Last Supper itself.

Which trio of apostles occupies the far left of the painting?

The figures are identified from an unsigned mid-16th-century fresco copy that labelled them by name.

Which chronicler described the painting as a 'muddle of blots' as early as 1556?

Flaking had begun by 1517, and Cardano had already called it 'blurred and colorless' in 1532.

What well-meant 1768 measure actually trapped moisture and scratched the flaking paint?

Earlier, in 1726, Michelangelo Bellotti had filled in missing sections with oil paint and varnished the whole mural.

Restorer Giuseppe Mazza had repainted all but how many faces before outrage halted him in 1770?

Mazza had first stripped off Bellotti's 1726 repairs before largely repainting the mural himself.

Which writer recorded that the refectory flooded with two feet of water after a storm in 1800?

The room was later used as a prison; Mary Shelley described the painting in her own travel book decades afterwards.

Who commissioned Giacomo Raffaelli's life-sized mosaic copy now in Vienna's Minoritenkirche?

The mosaic was made between 1809 and 1814; another 16th-century copy survives at Tongerlo Abbey in Belgium.

Where are Leonardo's original cartoons, used to guide the 1978-99 restoration, preserved?

Restorers also relied on infrared reflectoscopy and microscopic core samples to recover the painting's original form.