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Trompe l’oeil perspective and the “motions of the soul”

Imagine you’re back in the days of Leonardo,
when the friars sat, prayed and ate ranged around
the perimeter of the refectory, a chamber very similar
to the one the artist depicted on the wall.

The refectory is rather like a perspective box in which the painted space and the real dimension interact.
This is why Leonardo chose to place the scene in a setting that can be described as open to the exterior and not in an enclosed space, unlike the traditional iconography.
 

Leonardo succeeds in creating this impression by his skilful use of light and perspective.

The main light source is the windows set in the refectory’s left-hand wall
and this coincided with the light that illuminated the room in Leonardo’s day.
A slight effect of backlighting is also created by the large windows that we see in the background.
The presence of light sources enables these two dimensions
– the dimension of reality and the illusory dimension of the painting – to interact with each other.

The construction of the perspective, on the other hand, has its vanishing point at a height of four meters,
by Christ’s right temple.

 

Leonardo modifies the mathematical rules of perspective to represent
the scene on an inclined plane, so making the table visible
but also uniting the real space with the pictorial one
and thus making the whole composition comprehensible even from a distance.

Then through the windows in the background of the painted space we can see blue mountains. Our eyes are guided towards this natural landscape by the perspective created by the arrangement of the table, the tapestries depicted on the painted walls and the coffered ceiling.

Then through the windows in the background of the painted space we can see blue mountains. Our eyes are guided towards this natural landscape by the perspective created by the arrangement of the table, the tapestries depicted on the painted walls and the coffered ceiling.

To render the different planes of the painting, Leonardo used what he himself calls “aerial perspective” in his Trattato della pittura. He gives the example of mountains, which appear bluer in the distance, just as in the Last Supper.
The aerial perspective dear to Leonardo is represented here with an abrupt change in the chromatic range, passing from the warm colours of the figures in the foreground and the architectural space to cooler tones, such as green and blue, so conveying the impression of the air that lies between the eye of the viewer and the pictorial background.

Leonardo’s “Trattato di Pittura” is a collection of thoughts and observations taken from his various manuscripts, notes and drawings. After his death all this material was preserved, copied and edited by Francesco Melzi. It is therefore a composite work, compiled by one of his pupils and published only after the artist’s death.

The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci, 1495-1498.
Detail of the mountains, which appear bluer in the distance
The Monna Lisa, Leonardo Da Vinci, 1503–1504 ca (Museo del Louvre).
Detail of the background (left side)

The apostles

The first disciple on the left is Bartholomew, who is at the end of the table and seems to spring to his feet at Christ’s words. He rests his hands on the table and leans his body towards Jesus.

Near him is James the Lesser, whom we see in profile as he touches the shoulder of the older Andrew, who raises his hands as if to acquit himself of any suspicion of betrayal.

Next to him is Peter, whom his brother Andrew touches with his left hand as if to ask for comfort, but who is leaning towards John, the melancholy young man seated next to Christ.

Pietro seems to want to be sure of grasping Christ’s words as he urges John to ask the traitor’s name. Peter also holds a knife in his right hand, resting at his side.
Next to this group is Judas, who seems to shrink away from Jesus, while resting his elbow on the table. In his hand he holds the bag containing the 30 pieces of silver he received to betray Christ.

The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci, 1495-1498. Detail, James the Lesser touches the shoulder of the older Andrew
The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci, 1495-1498. Detail, Peter holds a knife in his right hand
The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci, 1495-1498. Detail, Judas holds the bag containing the 30 pieces of silver

Christ appears at the centre of the composition,
in the midst of the movement of the twelve apostles,
isolated as a perfectly triangular outline.

On the right, James the Greater throws open his arms in a gesture of disdain, while Thomas, leaning towards Christ, urges him to speak with the index finger of his right hand pointing upward.
Philip has just stood up and, facing Christ, he rests his hands on his breast with a grieving expression on his face.

Next to him is Matthew, who stretches his arms towards Christ. His face, however, is turned the other way, towards Simon and Judas Thaddeus, drawing their attention to the words they have just heard.
Judas Thaddeus, by contrast, is astonished. His left hand rests on the table with open palm, while with his right the apostle gestures towards himself.
Finally, Simon the Elder, with a more composed attitude, is seated at the head of the table, addressing Judas Thaddeus and Matthew.

The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci, 1495-1498. Detail of Thomas
The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci, 1495-1498. Detail of Matthew
The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci, 1495-1498. Detail of Judas Thaddeus

Leonardo embodies a broad range of emotions in the expressions of the faces, gestures and attitudes of the bodies of the apostles:
they include anger, fear, amazement and sorrow because, as he himself wrote,

“The motions of the different parts of the face, occasioned by sudden agitations of the mind,
are many. The principal of these are, laughter, weeping, calling out, singing
[…] anger, joy, sadness, fear, pain”.