Leonardo completed few painting, for his scientific activities and numerous odd jobs for his patrons consumed much of his energy. Some of his paintings have perished as a result of a bad luck.
Leonardo was commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, the ruler of Milan to paint in the dining hall of a monastery in Florence. The painting was to depict one of the most important events in the Christian faith, the Last Supper.
He spent three years painting The Last Supper, but within twenty years the paint started to flake off.
In this painting Leonardo has succeeded in producing the effect of the coup de theater at the moment when Jesus said, “One of you shall betray me.”
Instantly the various apostles realize that there is a traitor among their number and show by their different gestures their different passion and reveal their different temperaments.
The Last Supper, began to deteriorate during his lifetime because the mold on the damp monastery wall in Milan destroyed the clarity of the oil pigments.
Fortunately, Leonardo’s talent and his extraordinary range of interests may also be studied in drawings and notebooks.
The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci
