Leonardo and the Last Supper

Last updated
Leonardo and the Last Supper
Author Ross King
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistory
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date
2011
Media typePrint (hardcover and paperback)

Leonardo and the Last Supper, is a 2011 book written by Ross King, a Canadian novelist and non-fiction writer. He was awarded Canada's 2012 Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction for Leonardo and the Last Supper, his examination of da Vinci's iconic 15th century religious mural. [1]

Contents

Overview

Leonardo da Vinci's painting of The Last Supper in the former refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan took him and his team of assistants about three years to complete. The painting was not painted using traditional fresco technique but used an experimental oil-based medium. This proved to be a disaster as on a wall prone to damp, the paint surface quickly deteriorated. For centuries the painting was subjected to invasive restorations and retouchings. [2] [3]

Critical response

In a positive review for The Guardian , Charles Nicholl wrote; "King has the gift of clear, unpretentious exposition, and an instinctive narrative flair." [2] Michiko Kakutani, writing for The New York Times called the book a "gripping account" and wrote that, although there is not much new research, King does a "fluent and insightful job of weaving together all his research." [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leonardo da Vinci</span> Italian Renaissance polymath (1452–1519)

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he also became known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and paleontology. Leonardo is widely regarded to have been a genius who epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his collective works compose a contribution to later generations of artists matched only by that of his younger contemporary, Michelangelo.

<i>Mona Lisa</i> Painting by Leonardo da Vinci

The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world". The painting's novel qualities include the subject's enigmatic expression, the monumentality of the composition, the subtle modelling of forms, and the atmospheric illusionism.

<i>The Last Supper</i> (Leonardo) Mural painting by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1495–1498

The Last Supper is a mural painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1495–1498. The painting represents the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus with the Twelve Apostles, as it is told in the Gospel of John –

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<i>Virgin of the Rocks</i> Two paintings by Leonardo da Vinci

The Virgin of the Rocks, sometimes the Madonna of the Rocks, is the name of two paintings by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, of the same subject, with a composition which is identical except for several significant details. The version generally considered the prime version, the earlier of the two, is unrestored and hangs in the Louvre in Paris. The other, which was restored between 2008 and 2010, hangs in the National Gallery, London. The works are often known as the Louvre Virgin of the Rocks and London Virgin of the Rocks respectively. The paintings are both nearly 2 metres high and are painted in oils. Both were originally painted on wooden panels, but the Louvre version has been transferred to canvas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural references to Leonardo da Vinci</span> Overview about the cultural references to Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance painter and polymath who achieved legendary fame and iconic status within his own lifetime. His renown primarily rests upon his brilliant achievements as a painter, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, being two of the most famous artworks ever created, but also upon his diverse skills as a scientist and inventor. He became so highly valued during his lifetime that the King of France bore him home like a trophy of war, supported him in his old age and, according to legend, cradled his head as he died.

<i>The Battle of Anghiari</i> (Leonardo) Uncompleted mural by Leonardo da Vinci

The Battle of Anghiari (1505) was a planned painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Salone dei Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. Its central scene would have depicted four men riding raging war horses engaged in a battle for possession of a standard at the Battle of Anghiari in 1440.

<i>Isleworth Mona Lisa</i> Copy or earlier version of the Mona Lisa

The Isleworth Mona Lisa is an early sixteenth-century oil on canvas painting depicting the same subject as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, though with the subject depicted as being a younger age. The painting is thought to have been brought from Italy to England in the 1780s, and came into public view in 1913 when the English connoisseur Hugh Blaker acquired it from a manor house in Somerset, where it was thought to have been hanging for over a century. Since the 1910s, experts in various fields, as well as the collectors who have acquired ownership of the painting, have asserted that the major elements of the painting are the work of Leonardo himself, as an earlier version of the Mona Lisa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marco d'Oggiono</span> Italian painter (c.1470-c.1540)

Marco d'Oggiono was an Italian Renaissance painter and a chief pupil of Leonardo da Vinci, many of whose works he copied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Personal life of Leonardo da Vinci</span> Personal life of Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)

The Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) left thousands of pages of writings and drawings, but rarely made any references to his personal life. The resulting uncertainty, combined with mythologized anecdotes from his lifetime, has resulted in much speculation and interest in Leonardo's personal life. Particularly, his personal relationships, sexuality, philosophy, religion, vegetarianism, left-handedness and appearance.

Speculations about <i>Mona Lisa</i>

The 16th-century portrait Mona Lisa, or La Gioconda, painted in oil on a poplar panel by Leonardo da Vinci, has been the subject of a considerable deal of speculation.

Ross King is a Canadian novelist and non-fiction writer. He began his career by writing two works of historical fiction in the 1990s, later turning to non-fiction, and has since written several critically acclaimed and best-selling historical works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salaì</span> Italian artist (1480–1524)

Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno, better known as Salaì was an Italian artist and pupil of Leonardo da Vinci from 1490 to 1518. Salaì entered Leonardo's household at the age of ten. He created paintings under the name of Andrea Salaì. He was described as one of Leonardo's students and lifelong companion and servant and was the model for Leonardo's St. John the Baptist,Bacchus and Angelo incarnato.

<i>Salvator Mundi</i> (Leonardo) Painting attributed in whole or part to Leonardo da Vinci

Salvator Mundi is a painting attributed in whole or in part to the Italian High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1499–1510. Long thought to be a copy of a lost original veiled with overpainting, it was rediscovered, restored, and included in a major exhibition of Leonardo's work at the National Gallery, London, in 2011–2012. Christie's claimed just after selling the work that most leading scholars consider it to be an original work by Leonardo, but this attribution has been disputed by other specialists, some of whom posit that he only contributed certain elements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferronnière</span>

A ferronnière[fɛʁ.ɔn.jɛʁ] is a style of headband that encircles the wearer's forehead, usually with a small jewel suspended in the centre. The original form of the headband was worn in late fifteenth-century Italy, and was rechristened a ferronnière at the time of its revival in the second quarter of the nineteenth century for both day and formal and evening wear.

Conservation-restoration of Leonardo da Vincis <i>The Last Supper</i>

The conservation-restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper is an ongoing project that has spanned many centuries. Completed in the late 15th century by the Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, the mural is located in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy. The Last Supper was commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan in 1495, as part of a series of renovations to the convent with the intention that the location would become the Sforza family mausoleum. Work began on The Last Supper in 1495 and lasted until 1498. The scene is understood to depict the Bible verse John 13:22, showing the reactions of the Twelve Disciples, at the Last Supper, in the moments following Jesus’s announcement that one among them will betray him.

Jean-Pierre Isbouts is a professor in the Social Sciences PhD program of Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California, and an archaeologist, author, screenwriter, director, and producer of works addressing various historical periods, particularly the time period of Jesus and that of Renaissance and post-Renaissance art.

Two–<i>Mona Lisa</i> theory Theory that Leonardo da Vinci painted two versions of the Mona Lisa

The two–Mona Lisa theory is a longstanding theory proposed by various historians, art experts, and others that Leonardo da Vinci painted two versions of the Mona Lisa. Several of these experts have further concluded that examination of historical documents indicates that one version was painted several years before the second.

<i>The Mona Lisa Myth</i> 2013 American film

The Mona Lisa Myth is a multimedia project consisting of a 2013 book and a 2014 documentary film, produced in tandem by Renaissance scholar and art historian Jean-Pierre Isbouts, with physician and art collecter Christopher Heath Brown as co-author of the book and as a producer of the documentary, the latter with narration by Morgan Freeman. The book and film each examine the history of the Mona Lisa, and the longstanding theory that the Isleworth Mona Lisa is an earlier version of the same painting, also by Leonardo da Vinci.

<i>The Last Supper</i> (Damaskinos) Painting by Michael Damaskinos.

The Last Supper is a tempera painting by Greek painter Michael Damaskinos. He painted in Heraklion, Sicily, Venice, and other parts of Italy. His painting of the Last Supper is considered the Greek Last Supper and is comparative to Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece painted one hundred years prior. The two painters employed different painting styles but the subjects pose similarities. Damaskinos's painting features a feminine figure similar to that of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper. The Damaskinos Last Supper is now in the Monastery of Agia Aikaterini in Heraklion, Crete. It is part of the collection of Saint Catherine's Monastery near Mount Sinai, Egypt.

References

  1. "Governor General's lit prize winners led by women". CBC News. November 13, 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2012.
  2. 1 2 Charles, Nicholl (10 October 2012). "A Renaissance fable of vaulting ambition". The Guardian . Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  3. 1 2 Kakutani, Michiko (29 October 2012). "Revisiting a Famous Meal, Soup to Nuts". The New York Times . Retrieved 2020-04-20.