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COPIES
AND DERIVATIONS
OF THE LAST SUPPER

The importance of The Last Supper over the centuries can be seen from the many copies of the painting that have survived to this day.
These replicas, produced on canvas, panel, paper, as mosaics or sculptures, are works by artists who saw that Leonardo’s masterpiece was a model to be imitated and studied.

Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci, Marco d’Oggiono, inizio XVI secolo (Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan) © Mibac-Pinacoteca di Brera

Some copies were also made to have proof of its state of preservation, fearing that the Last Supper was destined to become lost with the passing of time.
These replicas are therefore important because they allow us to know what The Last Supper looked like when they were made.

Some copies were also made to have proof of its state of preservation, fearing that the Last Supper was destined to become lost with the passing of time.
These replicas are therefore important because they allow us to know what The Last Supper looked like when they were made.

The first copies were mainly done by artists who were working in Milan. The canvas believed to have been painted by Leonardo’s contemporary, Marco d’Oggiono, and the life-size replica by an unknown painter, which is now kept in Oxford, date back to the beginning of the 16th century.

Towards the mid-16th century, an unknown artist painted a frescoed replica in the church of Sant’Ambrogio in Ponte Capriasca. It is an important piece as it was the first to include the names of the apostles beneath each of the figures, which we still use today.

 

Last Supper, Ignoto pittore, 1550 circa (Chiesa di S. Ambrogio, Ponte Capriasca) © Skira

In 1612, over a century after it was painted, The Last Supper was severely damaged.
So, Cardinal Federico Borromeo commissioned Andrea Bianchi, also known as Vespino, to produce a copy of it on canvas, so that there would at least be some evidence of the painting’s condition.

In 1619, the cardinal donated the painting to the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, where it can still be found today.

Last Supper, copia da Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea Bianchi detto il Vespino, 1611-1616 (Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milano) ©Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana/Metis e Mida Informatica/Mondadori Portfolio

In 1769, Francesco Maria Gallarati made a miniature copy

 and “employed every little bit of skill to make it look as similar
to the old original as possible”,

fearing that Leonardo’s masterpiece would be lost.

At the end of the 18 th century, Louis XVI of France commissioned André Dutertre to produce a perfect replica of the Last Supper. It was also his intention to show what the painting’s state of preservation was like and salvage as much of its original appearance as possible. Dutertre carried out a very in-depth study of the painting and other copies that had already been made. He even replicated Jesus’s feet and the decorative tapestry on the background, which at the time had already worn away.

At the end of the 18 th century, Louis XVI of France commissioned André Dutertre to produce a perfect replica of the Last Supper. It was also his intention to show what the painting’s state of preservation was like and salvage as much of its original appearance as possible. Dutertre carried out a very in-depth study of the painting and other copies that had already been made. He even replicated Jesus’s feet and the decorative tapestry on the background, which at the time had already worn away.

Between 1807 and 1809, Giuseppe Bossi made a copy of the painting, in its original size, upon the commission of the Viceroy of Italy, Eugène de Beauharnais, the stepson of Napoleon Bonaparte. The painting was destroyed during the air raids of 1943. However, traces of it still remain in preparatory tracing works held in Weimar and a mosaic replica by Giacomo Raffaelli, now in the Minoritenkirche church in Vienna.
Detail, Last Supper, Giacomo Raffaelli, 1806-1814 (Minoritenkirche, Vienna)

Even 20 th -century art sought inspiration from Leonardo. The father of pop art, Andy Warhol, presented Sixty Last Suppers in Milan in 1987. The project, dedicated to The Last Supper, was a reworking of Leonardo’s painting through 60 black and white prints placed next to one another upon a 10-metre long canvas.

Sixty Last Suppers, Andy Warhol, 1986, acrilico e inchiostro serigrafico su tela di lino © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc. by SIAE 2017, foto di Rob McKeever

The iconography of Da Vinci’s Last Supper, which had already begun to spread beyond the borders of Milan at the beginning of the 16th century through the production of engravings and copies, also influenced many artists who painted the Last Supper after Leonardo, producing pieces of art that cannot be defined as replicas.

In the 16 th century, for example, Andrea del Sarto painted a version of the Last Supper in Florence, inside the refectory of San Salvi, where the humanity of the figures is expressed through Jesus, who is talking to Saint John.

Last Supper, Andrea del Sarto, 1511-1527 (Museo del Cenacolo di Andrea del Sarto, Firenze) ©Mibac - Polo museale della Toscana

In Lombardy, however, Leonardo’s innovative iconography influenced various leading artists, such as Moretto from Brescia, Giovanni Battista Moroni from Bergamo, and Romanino.

Last Supper, Giovan Battista Moroni, 1568-1569, olio su tela (Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta e San Giacomo, Romano di Lombardia)
Last Supper, Girolamo Romano (detto il Romanino), 1535 (Duomo, Montichiari)