Between 1496 and 1498 Leonardo painted his _chef d'oeuvre_, the
"Last Supper," (Plate IV.) for the end wall of the Refectory of the
Dominican Convent of S. Maria delle Grazie at Milan. It was originally
executed in tempera on a badly prepared stucco ground and began to
deteriorate a very few years after its completion. As early as 1556 it
was half ruined. In 1652 the monks cut away a part of the fresco
including the feet of the Christ to make a doorway. In 1726 one
Michelangelo Belotti, an obscure Milanese painter, received L300 for
the worthless labour he bestowed on restoring it. He seems to have
employed some astringent restorative which revived the colours
temporarily, and then left them in deeper eclipse than before. In 1770
the fresco was again restored by Mazza. In 1796 Napoleon's cavalry,
contrary to his express orders, turned the refectory into a stable,
and pelted the heads of the figures with dirt. Subsequently the
refectory was used to store hay, and at one time or another it has
been flooded. In 1820 the fresco was again restored, and in 1854 this
restoration was effaced. In October 1908 Professor Cavenaghi completed
the delicate task of again restoring it, and has, in the opinion of
experts, now preserved it from further injury. In addition, the
devices of Ludovico and his Duchess and a considerable amount of
floral decoration by Leonardo himself have been brought to light.
Leonardo has succeeded in producing the effect of the _coup de
theatre_ at the moment when Jesus said "One of you shall betray
me." Instantly the various apostles realise that there is a traitor
among their number, and show by their different gestures their
different passions, and reveal their different temperaments. On the
left of Christ is St. John who is overcome with grief and is
interrogated by the impetuous Peter, near whom is seated Judas
Iscariot who, while affecting the calm of innocence, is quite unable
to conceal his inner feelings; he instinctively clasps the money-bag
and in so doing upsets the salt-cellar.
It will be remembered that the Prior of the Convent complained to
Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, that Leonardo was taking too long to
paint the fresco and was causing the Convent considerable
inconvenience. Leonardo had his revenge by threatening to paint the
features of the impatient Prior into the face of Judas Iscariot. The
incident has been quaintly told in the following lines:--
"Padre Bandelli, then, complains of me
Because, forsooth, I have not drawn a line
Upon the Saviour's head; perhaps, then, he
Could without trouble paint that head divine.
But think, oh Signor Duca, what should be
The pure perfection of Our Saviour's face--
What sorrowing majesty, what noble grace,
At that dread moment when He brake the bread,
And those submissive words of pathos said:
"'By one among you I shall be betrayed,'--
And say if 'tis an easy task to find
Even among the best that walk this Earth,
The fitting type of that divinest worth,
That has its image solely in the mind.
Vainly my pencil struggles to express
The sorrowing grandeur of such holiness.
In patient thought, in ever-seeking prayer,
I strive to shape that glorious face within,
But the soul's mirror, dulled and dimmed by sin,
Reflects not yet the perfect image there.
Can the hand do before the soul has wrought;
Is not our art the servant of our thought?
"And Judas too, the basest face I see,
Will not contain his utter infamy;
Among the dregs and offal of mankind
Vainly I seek an utter wretch to find.
He who for thirty silver coins could sell
His Lord, must be the Devil's miracle.
Padre Bandelli thinks it easy is
To find the type of him who with a kiss
Betrayed his Lord. Well, what I can I'll do;
And if it please his reverence and you,
For Judas' face I'm willing to paint his."
* * * * *
"... I dare not paint
Till all is ordered and matured within,
Hand-work and head-work have an earthly taint,
But when the soul commands I shall begin;
On themes like these I should not dare to dwell
With our good Prior--they to him would be
Mere nonsense; he must touch and taste and see,
And facts, he says, are never mystical."
[Illustration: PLATE VI.--THE HEAD OF CHRIST
In the Brera Gallery, Milan. No. 280. 1 ft. 0-1/2 ins. by
1 ft. 4 ins. (0.32 x 0.40)]
The copy of the "Last Supper" (Plate V.) by Marco d'Oggiono, now in
the Diploma Gallery at Burlington House, was made shortly after the
original painting was completed. It gives but a faint echo of that
sublime work "in which the ideal and the real were blended in perfect
unity." This copy was long in the possession of the Carthusians in
their Convent at Pavia, and, on the suppression of that Order and
the sale of their effects in 1793, passed into the possession of a
grocer at Milan. It was subsequently purchased for L600 by the Royal
Academy on the advice of Sir Thomas Lawrence, who left no stone
unturned to acquire also the original studies for the heads of the
Apostles. Some of these in red and black chalk are now preserved
in the Royal Library at Windsor, where there are in all 145 drawings
by Leonardo.
Several other old copies of the fresco exist, notably the one in the
Louvre. Francis I. wished to remove the whole wall of the Refectory to
Paris, but he was persuaded that that would be impossible; the
Constable de Montmorency then had a copy made for the Chapel of the
Chateau d'Ecouen, whence it ultimately passed to the Louvre.
The singularly beautiful "Head of Christ" (Plate VI.), now in the
Brera Gallery at Milan, is the original study for the head of the
principal figure in the fresco painting of the "Last Supper." In
spite of decay and restoration it expresses "the most elevated
seriousness together with Divine Gentleness, pain on account of
the faithlessness of His disciples, a full presentiment of His own
death, and resignation to the will of His Father."