The Last Supper

The Last Supper

The Last Supper (L'Ultima Cena or Il Cenacolo in Italian) is the large (8.8 x 4.6 meters) mural (above) that Leonardo da Vinci painted in the late 15th century on the end wall of the dining hall of Santa Maria delle Grazie monastery in Milan, Italy.

The Last Supper depicts the last meal Jesus shared with His twelve apostles before His crucifixion at Calvary. It captures the commotion that ensued when Jesus told them as recorded in the 13th chapter of the Gospel of John, "One of you will betray me."

Decay, Door and Damage

The Last Supper was Leonardo da Vinci's first attempt to paint on a dry wall instead of a wet wall (which would have made it a fresco). The attempt failed, as the oil paint didn't bind with the dry wall's plaster and soon began to decay. By the mid 16th century, the figures had become blurred beyond recognition and the mural was considered ruined. In 1652, a door was cut through the mural, which was no longer recognizable.
"Artists" commissioned to restore the mural in the ensuing years made things worse. One used varnish, another used glue, while a third scraped off the surface and painted anew. The hall with the mural was also used as an armory, a stable, a prison, and then bombed during the Second World War, although the wall with the mural did not fall.

Original Copies

Because the mural began to decay so soon and due to demand, Leonardo da Vinci and his assistants painted at least two portable, full-size copies of The Last Supper, including the one below that is now in London's Royal Academy of Arts. These copies enabled the mural to be restored in the late 20th century to its current form shown above.
What is wrong with The Last Supper?

Almost everything, including these seven:

1.  Wrong Meal
The Last Supper depicted was the Passover supper, which was served after sunset, not a lunch served during broad daylight (notice the three windows) that da Vinci painted.

2.  Wrong Table
To eat communal meals, Jews in Israel 2,000 years ago sat on the floor, around the food, leaning on their left elbow with their legs stretched out behind them, and ate with their right hand. They didn't sit on chairs at a dining table, let alone on only one side of it.

3.  Wrong Food
The Passover, also called the "Feast of the Unleavened Bread," served matzo, the unleavened flat bread, not the doughy dinner rolls that da Vince painted on the table.

4.  Wrong Age
All of the apostles were young men at the time of this supper and most of them were martyred long before reaching old age.

5.  Wrong Race
Jesus and all of His apostles were middle easterners, not Caucasians.

6.  Wrong Proximity
Since John 13:24 says Peter "motioned" to John to have him ask Jesus to identify the betrayer, Peter was distant from John. The expanded view below shows Peter (left) adjacent to John, whispering in his ear.
7.  Wrong Gender
Most seriously, Leonardo da Vinci, who was homosexual, painted John as a woman and Jesus, the Salvator Mundi, as either a feminine man or a woman. The Last Supper is a work of blasphemy.

What Happened Thereafter?

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