"The Last Supper" Part 1 Sidewalk chalk and charcoal

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• published: 21 Oct 2008
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Created using Side Walk Chalk and Charcoal by Lance Haugan. Rumours and alternative theories A common rumour surrounding the painting is that the same model was used for both Jesus and Judas. The story often goes that the innocent-looking young man, a baker, posed at nineteen for Jesus. Some years later Leonardo discovered a hard-bitten criminal as the model for Judas, not realizing he was the same man. There is no evidence that Leonardo used the same model for both figures and the story usually overestimates the time it took Leonardo to finish the mural.[2] Some writers identify the person to Jesus' right not with the Apostle John (as is supposed by icongraphical tradition and confirmed by art historians) but with Mary Magdalene. This theory was the topic of the book The Templar Revelation, and plays a central role in Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code (2003). Castagno's version of The Last Supper, depicting St. John sleeping Castagno's version of The Last Supper, depicting St. John sleeping Critics of these theories will point out that: * Leonardo was requested to paint the Last Supper, which naturally included Jesus and his Twelve Apostles. As there are only thirteen figures in the painting, an apostle would have been missing to make way for Mary Magdalene. Somebody would have noted a missing male apostle earlier. Some have suggested that on the front of the figure of Simon Peter there is one hand with a dagger which is associated to nobody in the picture, but in clearer reproductions this is seen to be Peter's right hand, resting against his hip with the palm turned outward; the knife points towards Bartholomew (far left) who was to be executed by being flayed. It may also indicate Peter's impulsive nature, as he cuts off a soldier's ear in John 18:10. A detailed preliminary drawing of the arm exists.[3] * The figure in question is wearing male clothing. * Some of the painting's cartoons (preliminary sketches) are preserved, and none show female faces. * Other paintings from that period (Castagno's 1447 and Ghirlandaio's 1480) also show John to be a very boyish or feminine looking figure with long fair hair.[4] This was because John was supposed to have been the youngest and most unquestioningly devoted of the apostles. Hence he is often shown asleep against Jesus's shoulder. It was common in the period to show neophytes as very young or even feminine figures, as a way of showing their inferior position. * Leonardo also portrayed a male saint with similar effeminate features in his painting St. John the Baptist. Drogheda Cathedral's The Last Supper sculpture, depicting a feminine St. John (left) and St John's grandmother (right) Drogheda Cathedral's The Last Supper sculpture, depicting a feminine St. John (left) and St John's grandmother (right) There have also been other popular speculations about the work: * It has been suggested that there is no cup in the painting, yet Jesus' left hand is pointing to the Eucharist and his right to a glass of wine. (There are several glasses on the table, but they are difficult to see owing to the work's deterioration and restorations.) This is not the glorified chalice of legend as Leonardo insisted on realistic paintings. He often criticised Michelangelo for painting muscular, superhuman figures in the Sistine Chapel. * It is claimed that if one looks above the figure of Bartholemew, a Grail-like image appears on the wall. Whether Leonardo meant this to be a representation of the Holy Grail cannot be known, since as pointed out earlier there is a glass on the table within Christ's reach. The "Grail image" has become noticed probably because it only appears when viewing the painting in small scale reproductions. Zooming in on the painting reveals a cluster of geometrical shapes, possibly intended to represent marble wall decoration, or more likely, paneling on a door.[5] They only appear to form a golden chalice when parts are deliberately occluded. Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper superimposed with its mirror image. Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper superimposed with its mirror image. Slavisa Pesci, "an information technologist and amateur scholar", superimposed Leonardo da Vinci's version of The Last Supper with its mirror image (with both images of Jesus lined up) and claimed[6][7] that the resultant picture has: * a Templar knight on the far left * a woman in orange holds a swaddled babe in arms to the left of Christ * the Holy Grail used in the first Eucharist Giovanni Maria Pala, an Italian musician, has indicated that the positions of hands and loaves of bread can be interpreted as notes on a musical staff, and if read from right to left, as was characteristic of Da Vinci's writing, form a musical composition.[8][9] [edit]