Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper: analysis and significance

Leonardo's History

Sforza family was the family that ruled the Renaissance Italy that was based in Milan. They acquired the dukedom and Duchy of Milan from Visconti family that ruled Milan previously in the mid-15th century. Sforzas rose from rural nobility and became condottieri and through this military position they became rulers of Milan. Leonardo was a trained painter and a versatile genius in history. He was among key figures of renaissance which was a cultural movement in 1300's in Italy. Among his famous paintings were the last supper and Monalisa. Though he was a trained painter, his interests and achievements grew in a variety of fields that are considered scientific specialties. He studied anatomy, botany, astronomy, geology, optics, geometry and he designed machines as well as drew plan s for many inventions.

The last supper is one of the famous works of art done by Leonardo da Vinci which is a large fresco style painting on the wall of Santa Maria Delle Graize, Milan, Italy. It is not truly a Fresco since it was painted on a dry wall and not wet plaster. Due to the medium used it began deteriorating fairly a short while after it was painted. This painting depicted the ritual meal as a ceremony that is religion Jesus is the focal point of the painting, and in it are thirteen people. This painting makes one feel as though they are part of it and made this formula be copied and hence is standard for other symbolic paintings from then on.

Leonardo was renowned as a painter primarily, as he is considered to be one of the greatest painters of all times and a diversely talented person of all times. As an artist he aimed to create faithful renditions of life where there was dominance of highly figurative and downright religious paintings. His desire was to paint this in a realistic, bold and fresh way. He was hence very objective in his art work. He was a perfectionist and hence he resorted to science in a quest to make better his art work. His study of nature and anatomy was depicted in his realistic paintings and dissections of human body. He believed that artists must not only know the rules of perspective but all laws of nature.leornado just as any artist was faced with some challenges but his were aggravated by the fact that he was a son to a peasant girl and a father who did not care about anything apart from his work. He learned to paint on top of wood when his fellow artists were learning in better mediums.

Ludovico Sforza was a son to Francesco Sforza and hence made himself the duke of Milan. During his reign the king of Naples, Alfonso had allied himself with Alexander VI and hence thy posed a threat to Milan. Therefore this gave him the motivation to fend him off using the French who were then ruled by Charles VII he therefore permitted French troops to pass through Milan so that they can attack Naples. Due to the fact that Charles VII was not satisfied with Naples he went ahead to lay claim to Milan and this made Ludovico to regret ever allowing the French into Italy.Ludovico was a patron to Leonardo and this was motivated by the fact he only answered messages from princes despite the fact that that he had written to him and listed what he was capable of doing as a designer of civil and military machines to aid in the wars that Italy was facing. Eventually Leonardo was summoned to court as he was considered to be the least nervous.ludovico employed Leonardo and he decided that he wanted a religious scene painted which was the last supper. Therefore he told Leonardo to make the painting of the last supper this became one of the most famous of Leonardo's work.

The last supper is the final meal that Christ shared with his disciples before he was arrested and eventually crucified according to the Christian belief. The last supper is what gives the basis of the Eucharist according to the scriptures Therefore Leonardo used this tradition to form the basis for his painting.

Leonardo's painting the last supper was principally divided into three groups the first group was made up of Bartholomew, James the lesser and Andrew from the first group of three, here they ball appear surprised and Andrew holds his hands up in front of him in a gesture that depicted that he was frightened. The second group is made up of judas, simon peter and John .Judas here is holding a silver bag in his right hand and at the same time reaching with his left hand a piece of bread.simon peter leaning over Johns shoulder and holding a knife in his right hand symbolizes his readiness to defend Jesus while John appears to be swooning. This goes against the tradition since Judas was isolated from the rest of the apostles in previous works either through sating across the table from Jesus or on one side or even by giving all other apostles excluding him. He even created a dramatic and subtle effect through swathing Judas in shadow. He also made a realistic explanation of the prophetic work of Christ of the first man to share bread with him would betray him. Judas and Jesus are seen to b e reaching to the same bread though no one seems to be paying attention to this. The third group is of Thomas, James the great and Philip. They all appear to be in shock but in varying degrees Thomas has his hands raised, Philip is sorting for an explanation while James is recoiling in horror from Jesus. The fourth group is Matthew, Jude Thaddeus and Simon zealot who appear to be in a discussion.

Fresco painting is whereby water-based pigments are painted on freshly applied plaster that is on wall surfaces. The colors are prepared from grinding dry powder pigments in pure water; they are then dried and set with plaster so that they are made permanent on the wall.

Leonardo used one point perspective that involves all lines in the painting converging in one place and is known as vanishing point. This was a point that he used in the emphasis of the central position of Christ. All lines converge on the eyes of Christ and hence everyone looking at the paint will focus on this place. The painting was naturalistic since he had an interest in anatomy and hence he was able to paint figures that were accurate in details in all forms and proportions. There were also various looks of shock, confusion and distraught that showed clearly naturalism in Leonardo's work.