The Last Supper Painting

Leonardo Da Vinci completed the Last Supper Painting in 4 very difficult years, 1495 to 1498. The Dominican of Sta Maria delle Grazie in Italy has the privilege of housing the painting on its back wall.

The painting has an “extension of the room” look and reason for it is that Leonardo Da Vinci wanted to create an illusion of Jesus sitting with his apostles at the end of the dining hall.

The Moment of Betrayal

This painting is a pictorial depiction of Jesus Christ's speech at the last supper.

Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.
And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?
And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.
--Matthew 26

The Technique used in The Last Supper

Novelist Dan Brown in his blockbuster novel “ The Da Vinci Code ” committed an error, he claimed that Da Vinci's' masterpiece was a fresco which in fact it wasn't, It was what we call a tempera.

Had it been a fresco (a technique where the painting is done when the plaster on the wall is still wet therefore the colors intermingles permanently with the plaster and is permanent.) it wouldn't have weathered and wouldn't be falling off the way it has been for all these years.

Leonardo Da Vinci chose to adopt this new style, which we now know as tempera. Egg yolk and vinegar was mixed with oil colors and painted on dry plaster. That way it made it easy to be redone when necessary. However this technique proved to be disastrous, the painting almost immediately began to fall off the plaster.