The Last Supper is a mural painting created by the famous artist Leonardo Da Vinci. Da Vinci created this spectacular masterpiece in the 15th century, between 1495 and 1498. The mural painting was painted for da Vinci’s patron Duke Ludovico Sforza and his duchess Beatrice d’Este. The Last Supper painting depicted the last day of Jesus according to the apostle John, chapter 13 verse 21.
The narrative behind this painting is when Jesus tells his twelve disciples that one of them will betray him. But did you know that The Last Supper was not a true fresco and had to undergo many restoration attempts?
The Last Supper painting is approximately 460cm (181 inches) by 880 cm (346 inches). It spans the wall of the dining hall of the Santa Marie delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. The actual painting is not a true fresco because Leonardo painted the mural on a dry wall rather than on wet plaster.
Consequently as a result of sealing the painting wall with tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic, the painting began to flake as early as 1517. In 1652 due to the deterioration of the painting, Jesus’ feet that were once believed to be a symbol of the crucifixion was cut through, and an arch door was painted there instead. To protect the painting, a curtain was hung over the painting around 1768. However, when the curtain was pulled back, a scratch was made in the flaking paint.
Filling in the missing section with oil paint and varnishing the entire mural, Michelangelo Bellotti attempted to make the first restoration of the famous painting in 1726. In 1770 a second restoration was attempted at saving The Last Supper painting this time by Giuseppa Mazza.
This restoration attempt took place in 1770, and Mazza basically stripped away at all of Bellotti’s work thus repainting the mural. The public was outraged at this, and Mazza was stopped. By throwing stones at the painting and eventually climbing ladders to literally scratch the eyes out of the apostle, the French troops used the mural as an armory in 1796. An expert on fresco paintings was called upon in 1821 to try to move the painting to a safer location. Stefano Barezzi was the man’s name, and he had moved half of the mural painting before realizing the painting was not a true fresco painting. Barezzi attempted to fix his mistake with glue. Between the years of 1901 to 1908, a man by the name of Luigi Cavenaghi studied the painting’s structure, and then he proceeded to clean it.
In 1924 Oreste Silvestri cleaned the painting some more, and then save some of the parts of the painting using stucco.
Nonetheless, the painting was damaged from the vibration of bombs when the refectory was struck by a bomb in 1943. This event was due to World War II. Luckily protective sandbagging prevented the painting from being struck by bomb splinters. Therefore another cleaning and restoration attempt was made by Mauro Pelliccioli between 1951-1954.
The last major restoration of The Last Supper lasted fifteen years. This was conquered by a man named Pinin Brambila Barcilon and took place between 1978 to 1999. Barcilon wanted this to be a permanent restoration. He studied the original painting work by da Vinci.
Barcilon also used scientific testing, particularly infared reflectoscopy to recreate the painting. When his work was completed and the painting was revealed in 1999, critics did not like the new painting because of the use of watercolor. Nevertheless, the painting was unveiled in May 1999, but observers of the painting must book ahead in order to see the painting, and they are only allowed to visit for 15 minutes.