The Mystery of the Da Vinci Supper. Icon "The Last Supper", meaning, what helps

Date of creation: 1495-1497.
Type: tempera.
Dimensions: 460 * 880 cm.

The last supper

One of famous masters Renaissance was commissioned for a large-scale fresco depicting the Last Supper in the refectory of the Church of Santa Maria Grazie in Milan. Obviously, Lodovico Sforza was the initiator of this order, as he wished to make a generous gift to the brotherhood of the Dominicans. The coat of arms of the Sforza family can be seen in the arch above the room where the The last supper.

Philip, Matthew, Judas Thaddeus.

On the first sketches of the composition, Vinci intended to depict the moment of handing over a piece of bread to Judas, signifying that Christ would be betrayed by this particular apostle. However, in the version that has come down to us, the concept has been changed. The wizard does not depict the fragment Holy week Christ. Due to what scientists know about preparatory stage The creation of the fresco makes it clear that Leonardo, in the final version of the work, chose to depict the moment of identification of Judas as a traitor.

Bartholomew, Jacob the Younger, Andrew.

The painting depicts Christ at an Easter meal with the apostles. In the room behind the backs of Christ and the apostles there are three windows, from which a view of surrounding landscape. Leonardo meticulously painted distant trees and hills: this landscape resembles a Milanese landscape. The artist managed to achieve the effect of a three-dimensional image by making the table part of the refectory wall. As it is written in the Gospel (Matt. 26: 17-29), the table for this supper was lined with Easter dishes, fruits and wine. On the Leonardo's fresco there are dishes with eel and oranges - the artist's favorite food. All the apostles sit along the table, on the opposite side from the viewer, which makes it possible to observe even their shoes under the table. The tablecloth is painted realistically and the dishes standing on it, to the right and left of the table, the edges of the tablecloth hang in exactly the same way.

Simon Peter (behind), Jude, John.

Leonardo divides 12 figures into 4 subgroups, three people each, creating a canvas where each of the characters has individual features: they shout, talk, turn, their faces express disbelief and confusion. The variety of angles, poses and gestures resemble illustrations to the physical laws of optics and dynamics. Like a drop falling into a motionless container of water, words about the betrayal of one of the apostles upset the state of equilibrium. This analogy, coupled with the research of optics by Leonardo, forces us to consider the fresco as a combination of the achievements of science and visual arts.

Thomas, Jacob the Elder, Philip.

Christ

The figure of Christ is located in the center of the picture, as always in the paintings on gospel story... Leonardo portrays him as a young man. The calm expression on his face causes surprise and distrust of the apostles that one of those gathered at this table will betray him. Leonardo conveys this very moment of the meal, contrasting the serenity of Jesus with the excitement of his disciples, who exchange glances with each other, gesticulate, wondering which of them can decide on such. Every now and then they turn to Christ with the question: “Is it me, Lord? ..” - and with a shuddering heart they await an answer. Leonardo places the Christ figure in the center of the table. All compositional lines of the painting converge at one point - to the head of Christ, creating a centripetal perspective.

Arch

The central arch shows the coat of arms of Lodovico Sforza and his wife, the inscription reads: LU (dovicus) MA (ria) BE (atrix) EST (ensis) SF (ortia) AN (glus) DUX (mediolani). In the arch on the left - the coat of arms of the son of Lodovico Massimiliano with the text. The text in the right arch is adjacent to the coat of arms of the Duke of Bari, which belongs to Lodovico's second son, Francesco.

Fresco in our time

Fatal mistakes in early attempts to restore the canvas had a detrimental effect both on the original colors of the fresco and on the facial expressions and outlines of the figures. But final stage marked a new milestone in restoration methodology, and also shed light on some of the details hidden under the layers of paint applied after Leonardo put the brush aside. In addition, it became known about the most complex experiments with lighting, about conceptual ideas regarding perspective.

Of course, a work of this magnitude, of such sophistication and importance both for art and for science, asks more questions than answers, and also deserves a more detailed acquaintance with itself. Historians and art historians devote their lives to the study of the masterpiece, gradually revealing some of the secrets of the fresco, but all the mysteries and messages of the great Leonardo are unlikely to be deciphered.

Fresco "The Last Supper" updated: September 12, 2017 by the author: Gleb

Painting or fresco. Many people call the Last Supper a painting, but officially it is called a fresco. For those readers who do not understand the difference well, we will tell you exactly how these two types of works of fine art differ from each other.

The Last Supper is not really a fresco, don't look at official name... Leonardo da Vinci painted it on a dry surface, and had his own reasons for this. The fresco needs to be painted quickly enough until the plaster dries up, and the master did not want to rush.

We will not talk for a long time about the plot, the last meal of Jesus Christ. Jesus is in the center of the picture, 12 apostles around him. Jesus informs his disciples that one of them will betray him. We will tell you in detail what to look for when examining a painting at the end of this article.

Those of tourists who tried to find information about the Last Supper in English or Italian noticed that this work is called in a completely different way. Only in our language does she wear this beautiful name... In other European languages, it is called more simply - “The Last Supper”. “Last super” in English or “L“ Ultima Cena ”in Italian These names will come in handy for buying tickets online.

Ticket problem.

After the release of the film "The Da Vinci Code", the popularity of this attraction has greatly increased and still does not subside. Tourists are allowed inside strictly for 15 minutes and in a limited group of 25 people. It is not always possible to buy tickets at the box office; at the peak of the summer season, tickets may not be available for a week in advance. In winter, the situation is much better, tickets can usually be bought for an excursion on the current day.

You can book your tickets in advance via the internet. There are several sites where you can do this. All of them do not have Russian-language versions, only Italian and English.

The first site, vivaticket.it, is notable for its democratic prices. The ticket costs only 11.5 euros, including the services of a guide. But on this site you have to register to buy a ticket, and this procedure is not easy.

The second site - www.milan-museum.com makes it possible to buy tickets without registration, but enter your contact details and data credit card still have to. The minimum ticket price on this website is 23.5 euros.

The third site - www.tickitaly.com is even more expensive, but it is also the most understandable and user-friendly. The easiest way to buy tickets here, but they cost from 33 euros.

In any case, you will be sent a voucher that will need to be printed and presented at the checkout, in exchange for it you will receive a ticket.

What to look at when you get inside.

The second thing to notice is the face of Christ himself. He knows his fate, his expression is not at all like fear. It was on this face that Leonardo da Vinci worked the most.

And, of course, it is worth paying attention to the faces of the apostles. They are confused, each asking Jesus if he is a traitor. Many have fear or surprise on their faces.

Another one interesting detail is at the bottom of the picture, right under Christ. This is part of the doorway, which was made here after the fresco was badly destroyed from time to time.

There are three last suppers in the world.

In the Monastery of Santa Maria del Grazie in Milan, there is an original by Leonardo da Vinci himself. In fact, there are not many of the master's brushstrokes left. Since the artist painted on a dry surface, after 20 years the Last Supper began to collapse, and after 60 years the figures were already hard to distinguish.

In Italy, a doorway was made in their place, but they, of course, remained on the copies. One of these copies is in London at the Royal Academy of Arts. A second copy can be seen in Switzerland at the Church of St. Ambrogio.

We wish you a successful visit to Milan and an interesting view of the Last Supper fresco. Read about other attractions in Italy in our articles ( links below).

Truly, there is no secret in the world that one day would not become apparent, for manuscripts do not burn. And we keep on debunking one of the most shameless historical myths, relatively discredited Christian Church name Mary Magdalene... From the recent it has become essential for us essential coverage of this topic, because Rigdena Djappo himself speaks with great respect about her and her "great feat", in which we will certainly come later, as evidenced by the book Sensei 4. Primordial Shambhala"materials describing perfectly unknown story this mysterious and beautiful woman. Very soon in the section "Primordial Knowledge" we will publish the detailed content of this invaluable, in our opinion, literary work.

In the meantime, following the article "One of the mysteries of Mary Magdalene, the beloved disciple of Jesus Christ", we continue to search for the truth, inconvenient for the official Church, trying to figure out what and why from us - ordinary people- hid for millennia, so what can you do, we have to speak directly, the so-called "clergy". Having received the keys-Knowledge, “doors and eyes are opened” for any person, he begins to see the surrounding reality from a radically different angle of view, and first of all, it becomes incomprehensible to him why these people call themselves “priests” and hide so many secrets? Had a person learned the truth, and much in this world could have changed, and we are convinced, for the better for people.

Today we turn to the monumental painting of Leonardo da Vinci " The last supper"depicting the scene of the last supper of Jesus Christ with his disciples. It was written in the years 1495-1498 in the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. The reason for our conversion in it? Like many unbiased biblical scholars, we became very interested, why is it clear that there is a woman next to Jesus , while the Church has been persistently convincing for thousands of years to believe in the version - about a certain Apostle John, from whose pen came the fourth, one of the canonical Gospels "from John the Theologian" - the "beloved disciple" of the Savior.

So, let's look at the original first:

Location

Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy.

"The Last Supper" (official information, according to Wikipedia)

General information

The size of the image is approximately 460 × 880 cm, it is located in the refectory of the monastery, on the back wall. The theme is traditional for this kind of premises. The opposite wall of the refectory is covered with a fresco by another master; Leonardo also put his hand to it.

Technique

He painted The Last Supper on a dry wall, not on wet plaster, so the painting is not a fresco in the true sense of the word. The fresco must not be altered during work, and Leonardo decided to cover stone wall a layer of resin, gabs and mastic, and then write on this layer with tempera. Due to the chosen method, the painting began to deteriorate within a few years after the end of the work.

Figures depicted

The apostles are depicted in groups of three, arranged around the figure of Christ seated in the center. Groups of apostles, from left to right:

Bartholomew, Jacob Alfeyev and Andrey;
Judas Iscariot (wearing green clothes and blue) , Peter and John (?);
Thomas, Jacob Zebedee and Philip;
Matthew, Judas Thaddeus and Simon.

In the 19th century, Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks with the names of the apostles were found; before that, only Judas, Peter, John and Christ had been identified with certainty.

Analysis of the painting

It is believed that the work depicts the moment when Jesus utters the words that one of the apostles will betray him ("and when they ate, he said: truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me"), and the reaction of each of them. As in other depictions of the Last Supper of that time, Leonardo places those seated at the table on one side of it so that the viewer can see their faces. Majority previous works on this topic, Judas was excluded, placing him alone at the part of the table opposite to that at which the other eleven apostles and Jesus were sitting, or depicting with a halo all the apostles except Judas. Judas clutches a small pouch in his hand, possibly representing the silver he received for betraying Jesus, or hinting at his role among the twelve apostles as treasurer. He alone put his elbow on the table. The knife in Peter's hand, pointing away from Christ, may refer the viewer to the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane during the arrest of Christ. Jesus' gesture can be interpreted in two ways. According to the Bible, Jesus predicts that his traitor will reach out for food at the same time as him. Judas reaches for the dish, not noticing that Jesus also reaches for it. right hand... At the same time, Jesus points to bread and wine, which symbolizes a sinless body and shed blood, respectively.
The figure of Jesus is positioned and illuminated in such a way that the viewer's attention is drawn, first of all, to him. The head of Jesus is at a vanishing point for all perspective lines.
The mural contains repeated references to the number three:

The apostles sit in groups of three;
behind Jesus there are three windows;
the contours of the figure of Christ resemble a triangle.

The light that illuminates the entire scene does not come from the windows painted behind, but comes from the left, like real light from the window on the left wall. In many places of the painting there is a golden ratio; for example, where Jesus and John, who is to his right, laid their hands, the canvas is divided in this ratio.

"The Last Supper. Mary Magdalene sits next to Christ!" (Lynn Picknett, Clive Prince. "Leonardo da Vinci and the Brotherhood of Zion")

(noteworthy book due to its anxious analytical gaze)

There is one of the most famous - immortal - works of art in the world. The Last Supper fresco by Leonardo da Vinci is the only surviving mural in the refectory of the Santa Maria del Grazia monastery. It is executed on a wall that remained standing after the entire building was turned into a pile of rubbish as a result of the Allied bombing during the Second World War. Although others presented their versions of this biblical scene to the world wonderful artists- Nicolas Poussin and even such an idiosyncratic author as Salvador Dali - it is Leonardo's work that, for some reason, strikes the imagination more than any other canvas. Variations on this topic can be seen everywhere, and they cover the entire spectrum of attitudes to the topic, from admiration to ridicule.

Sometimes the image looks so familiar that it is practically not examined in detail, although it is open to the eyes of any viewer and requires more careful consideration: its true deep meaning remains a closed book, and the viewer glances only over its cover.

It was this work of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) - the suffering genius of Renaissance Italy - that showed us the way that led to discoveries so exciting in their consequences that at first they seemed incredible. It is impossible to understand why entire generations of scientists did not notice what was available to our amazed gaze, why such explosive information has patiently waited for writers like us all this time, remained outside the mainstream of historical or religious research and was not discovered.

To be consistent, we must go back to The Last Supper and look at it with a fresh, unbiased eye. Now is not the time to view her in the light of familiar notions of history and art. Now the moment has come when the look of a person who is completely unfamiliar with this so famous scene will be more appropriate - let the veil of bias fall from our eyes, let us look at the picture in a new way.

The central figure, of course, is Jesus, whom Leonardo calls the Savior in his writings relating to this work. He pensively looks down and slightly to his left, his hands are stretched out on the table in front of him, as if offering the viewer the gifts of the Last Supper. Since it was then, according to the New Testament, that Jesus introduced the sacrament of the Sacrament, offering his disciples bread and wine as his “flesh” and “blood,” the viewer has the right to expect that there should be a cup or goblet of wine on the table in front of him for the gesture to look justified ... Ultimately, for Christians, this supper immediately precedes the Passion of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he fervently prays "let this cup pass from me ..." - another association with the image of wine - blood, - and holy blood was shed before the Crucifixion to atone for sins of all mankind. Nevertheless, there is no wine before Jesus (and even a symbolic amount of it on the whole table). Could these outstretched arms mean what is called an empty gesture in the vocabulary of artists?

Given the absence of wine, it is perhaps no coincidence that very few of the breads on the table are "refracted". Since Jesus himself associated with his flesh the bread that should be broken in the highest sacrament, is not a subtle hint of the true nature of Jesus' suffering sent to us?

However, all this is just the tip of the iceberg of heresy reflected in this picture. According to the Gospel, the Apostle John the Theologian was physically so close to Jesus during this Supper that he nestled "to his chest." However, with Leonardo, this young man occupies a completely different position than the “stage instructions” of the Gospel require, but, on the contrary, exaggeratedly deviated from the Savior, bowing his head to the right. An open-minded viewer can be forgiven if he notices only these curious features in relation to the only image - the image of the Apostle John. But, although the artist, due to his own predilections, of course, was inclined towards the ideal male beauty somewhat feminine type, there can be no other interpretations: in this moment we are looking at a woman. Everything about him is amazingly feminine. No matter how old and faded the image may be due to the age of the fresco, one cannot but pay attention to the tiny, graceful hands, delicate facial features, obviously female breast and a gold necklace. This is a woman, it is a woman, which is marked by the garment that makes her stand out... The clothes on her are a mirror image of the Savior's clothes: if he is wearing a blue tunic and a red cloak, then she is wearing a red tunic and a blue cloak. None of those seated at the table has a robe that is a mirror image of Jesus' robe. And there are no other women at the table.

Central in the composition is the huge, broadened letter "M", which is formed by the figures of Jesus and this woman, taken together. They seem to be literally connected at the hips, but they suffer from the fact that they diverge or even grow from one point in different directions. As far as we know, none of the academicians ever referred to this image other than "St. John", they did not notice the compositional form in the form of the letter "M". Leonardo, as we have established in our studies, was an excellent psychologist who laughed when he introduced his patrons, who ordered him a traditional biblical image, the highest degree unorthodox images, knowing that people will calmly and calmly look at the most monstrous heresy, because they usually see only what they want to see. If you have been called to write a Christian scene and you have presented the public with something that at first glance is similar and in accordance with their wishes, people will never look for ambiguous symbolism.

However, Leonardo had to hope that there might be others sharing him unusual interpretation Of the New Testament, who recognizes the secret symbolism in the picture. Or someone once, some objective observer, will one day understand the image of a mysterious woman associated with the letter "M", and ask questions that clearly follow from this. Who was this “M” and why is she so important? Why did Leonardo risk his reputation - even his life in the days when heretics were burning everywhere - to include it in the Christian scene? Whoever she is, her fate cannot but be alarming, as the outstretched hand cuts her gracefully arched neck. The threat in this gesture cannot be doubted.

The index finger of the other hand, raised directly in front of the face of the Savior, threatens himself with obvious passion. But both Jesus and "M" look like people who do not notice the threat, each of them is completely immersed in the world of his thoughts, each in his own manner is serene and calm. But all together it looks like secret symbols used not only to warn Jesus and the woman sitting next to him (?), but also to inform (and perhaps remind) the observer about some information that would be dangerous to publish in another way. Did Leonardo use his creation to promulgate some special beliefs, which in the usual way would it be just crazy? And could these beliefs be a message addressed to much more a wide range of, and not just his neighbors? Maybe they were intended for us, for the people of our time?

Young Apostle John or Mary Magdalene?

Let's return to the consideration of this amazing creation. In the fresco on the right, from the point of view of the observer, a tall, bearded man bent almost doubled over, telling something to a student sitting at the edge of the table. At the same time, he almost completely turned his back to the Savior. The model for the depiction of this disciple - Saint Thaddeus or Saint Jude - was Leonardo himself. Note that the depictions of Renaissance artists are usually either random or were made when the artist was beautiful model... In this case, we are dealing with an example of using an image by an adherent of double entendre ( double meaning). (He was preoccupied with finding the right model for each of the apostles, as can be judged by his rebellious proposal, made by the most angry prior of the monastery of St. Mary, to serve as a model for Judas.) So why did Leonardo portray himself so obviously turning his back on Jesus?

Moreover. An unusual hand is aiming a dagger at the belly of a student sitting just one person away from the "M". This hand cannot belong to anyone sitting at the table, since such a bend is physically impossible for people who are next to the image of the hand to hold the dagger in this position. However, what is really striking is not the very fact of the existence of a hand that does not belong to the body, but the absence of any mention of this in the works about Leonardo that we have read: although this hand is mentioned in a couple of works, the authors do not find anything unusual in it. As in the case of the apostle John, who looks like a woman, nothing could be more obvious - or weirder - you just need to pay attention to this circumstance. But this incorrectness most often escapes the attention of the observer simply because this fact is extraordinary and outrageous.

We often hear that Leonardo was a devout Christian, religious paintings which reflect the depth of his faith. As we can see, at least one of the paintings contains images that are very dubious from the point of view of an orthodox Christian. Our further research, as we will show, has established that nothing can be as far from the truth as the idea that Leonardo was a true believer - that is, believers according to the canons of the generally accepted or at least acceptable form of Christianity. Already by the curious anomalous features of one of his creations, we see that he was trying to tell us about a different layer of meanings in a familiar biblical scene, about a different world of faith hidden in the generally accepted images of murals in Milan.

Whatever the meaning of these heretical errors - and the significance of this fact cannot be exaggerated - they were absolutely incompatible with the orthodox dogmas of Christianity. In itself, this is unlikely to be news for many modern materialists / rationalists, since for them Leonardo was the first real scientist, a person who did not have time for any superstitions, a person who was the antithesis of all mysticism and occultism. But they could not understand what appeared before their eyes. To depict the Last Supper without wine is tantamount to depicting a coronation scene without a crown: it turns out either nonsense, or the picture is filled with a different content, and to such an extent that it represents the author as an absolute heretic - a person who has faith, but a faith that contradicts the tenets of Christianity. Maybe not just another, but in a state of struggle with the dogmas of Christianity. And in other works of Leonardo, we have discovered his own particular heretical attachments, expressed in carefully crafted relevant scenes, which he would hardly have written that way, being just an atheist making his living. There are too many of these deviations and symbols to be interpreted as the mockery of a skeptic forced to work on order, and they cannot be called simply antics, like, for example, the image of St. Peter with a red nose. What we see in the Last Supper and other works is the secret code of Leonardo da Vinci, which we believe has a striking connection to our modern world.

One can argue what Leonardo believed or did not believe, but his actions were not just a whim of a man, undoubtedly extraordinary, whose whole life was full of paradoxes. He was withdrawn, but at the same time the soul and life of society; he despised fortune-tellers, but his papers indicated large sums paid to astrologers; he was considered a vegetarian and dearly loved animals, but his tenderness rarely extended to humanity; he zealously dissected corpses and watched executions with the eyes of an anatomist, was a deep thinker and master of riddles, tricks and hoaxes.

With such a contradictory the inner world it is likely that religious and philosophical views The Leonardos were unusual, odd even. For this reason alone, it is tempting to ignore his heretical beliefs as something that is irrelevant for our modernity. It is generally accepted that Leonardo was an extremely gifted person, but modern trend evaluating everything in terms of the "era" leads to a significant underestimation of his achievements. After all, in his prime, even typography was a novelty. What can one lone inventor, who lived in such primitive times, offer the world, which is bathed in an ocean of information via the global network, to the world, in a matter of seconds via telephone and fax, exchanging information with continents in its days not yet discovered?

There are two answers to this question. First: Leonardo was not, let's use a paradox, an ordinary genius. Most educated people know that he designed aircraft and a primitive tank, but at the same time some of his inventions were so alien to the time in which he lived that people with an eccentric mindset may imagine that he was given to foresee the future. His bicycle design, for example, did not become known until the late sixties of the twentieth century. Unlike the agonizing evolution of the Victorian bicycle by trial and error, road-eater Leonardo da Vinci has two wheels and a chain drive in the first edition. But it is not the design of the mechanism that is even more striking, but the question of the reasons that prompted the invention of the wheel. Man has always wanted to fly like a bird, but the dream of balancing on two wheels and pressing the pedals, taking into account the deplorable state of the roads, already gives off mysticism. (Recall, by the way, that unlike the dream of flying, it does not appear in any classic plot.) Among many other statements about the future, Leonardo also predicted the appearance of the telephone.

Even if Leonardo was even a greater genius than historical books say, the question still remains unanswered: what possible knowledge he could have, if what he proposed acquired meaning or became widespread only five centuries after his time. One can, of course, put forward the argument that the teaching of the first century preacher, it would seem, should have even less relevance to our time, but the immutable fact remains: some ideas are universal and eternal, the truth, found or formulated, after centuries does not cease to be true. ..

(to be continued)

"The Da Vinci Code" (Dan Brown's scandalous novel)

Particularly heated controversy erupted in the world after the film adaptation of the controversial novel by Dan Brown " The Da Vinci Code"where, among other things, he claims that Mary Magdalene was not only a beloved disciple of Jesus, but also a spouse, that is, a wife ... The book has been translated into 44 languages ​​and published with a total circulation of more than 81 million copies. The Da Vinci Code tops the New York Times bestseller list, many believe the novel the best book decades. The novel, written in the genre of an intellectual detective thriller, was able to awaken widespread interest in the legend of the Holy Grail and the place of Mary Magdalene in the history of Christianity.

However, the Christian world reacted very sharply to the release of the book and the film, Dan Brown's version was defeated with a thousand critical responses and comments. One of the zealous ministers of the religion put it most vividly, calling even to boycott the film: "piercingly anti-Christian, full of slander, crimes and historical and theological errors regarding Jesus, the Gospel and the hostile church." However, discarding religious blinkeredness, one thing is for sure, none of the critics lived then, and real story cannot know. It may be known by the one whose name is inscribed in the title of our site, and we will come back to his words.

SKETCH OF THE LAST SUPPER

Well, now let's look at Leonardo Da Vinci's blank, a preserved sketch for "The Last Supper". The second figure on the left, in the top row, clearly shows feminine outlines, smoother and lighter shapes. Who is this if not a woman?

SUMMARY

Everyone sees what he wants to see, this is one of the mysterious laws of human consciousness. And if a person's consciousness believes that white is black, it will confidently prove its case. We were not present at the writing of the famous monumental painting brilliant artist, as they were not present at the epoch-making events in the life of Jesus Christ, and therefore it would be fairer to end this article with the statement that we cannot know for certain whether it is John or Mary, but subjectively, in the painting of Leonardo Da Vinci there is a woman, and therefore no one other as the beloved disciple of Jesus - Mary Magdalene. To the same degree of subjectivity is the opinion of the Church that in the picture is the Apostle John the Theologian. 50/50 - nothing more !!!

Prepared by Dato Gomarteli (Ukraine-Georgia)

PS: another reproduction, photo of the Last Supper mosaic from St. Isaac's Cathedral Petersburg, and again we see a woman:

Vyacheslav Adrov:

Announcement...

In Milan, in the Church of Santa Maria della Grazie, there is famous fresco, which haunted numerous researchers of the personality of its author for hundreds of years. Since this is Leonardo himself, it is believed that in his work there must be some kind of secret or, at least, a riddle. There are many ideas and versions about the secret messages embedded in the fresco. For example, Dan Brown's version, which caused a lot of noise in the art world. I, like everyone else, looked closely at the image and, what do you think - it seems to me that I understood its additional meaning (if it was laid down)! And Dan Brown's version is just a superficial reaction to the detail necessary to reflect the author's holistic intent. Moreover, a detail (a womanlike figure next to Christ), which carries a completely different semantic load... No hints at the life companion of Christ!

In order to preserve emotionality and dynamics of thought, I decided to write down thoughts and intellectual impulses as they arise and are realized. Thus, I have preserved the atmosphere of research, writing down the next portion of my mental developments, I still don’t know if they will be useful in the future and, generally speaking, how will it all end? Do you get any interesting results? Therefore, in the subtitle, this is how the genre is designated.

The mystery of the fresco by Leonardo da Vinci "The Last Supper"

(detective investigation of one biased gazing at the famous mural)

Part 1.

I start as usual. Returning from another trip organized by the 7 Summits Club, sitting in a rocking chair, wrapped in a blanket, looking at the raging fire tongues of the fireplace stove and sipping ... (insert yourself: pipe, cigar, cognac, calvados, ...), I thought about and evaluated the results of the trip, prepared for the next one. And then I came across (or surfaced in my imagination) a reproduction of the fresco "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci. As befits a normal traveler, I, of course, was in the same refectory of the convent of Santa Maria de Grazie in Milan. And, of course, he admired (and now even more so) one of greatest creations master (although almost nothing is visible on it, photo 1).

Briefly, to refresh your memory. The fresco (although, in fact, this image is not a fresco due to the peculiarities of the technology of its creation) measures 450 * 870 cm and was created in the period from 1495 to 1498 by order of the Duke Ludovico Sforza and his wife, Beatrice d'Este. Due to the fact that it was not created as a typical fresco - it was painted with egg tempera on a dry wall covered with layers of resin, plaster and mastic - it began to deteriorate very early and was restored many times. At the same time, the attitude of the restorers to her was not always distinguished by such piety, as is customary now - faces, figures were getting better, various technologies of applying paint and a protective coating were used. When an attempt was made to move it to another location in 1821, it was nearly destroyed. Needless to say, the attitude of the French invaders towards her, who set up an armory and prisoners in the monastery (there was such an episode in the history of the refectory).

A little about the plot. He was inspired by the biblical story of the last meal of Jesus with his disciples, in which he said that one of those present would betray him. According to most art historians, Leonardo's work is the most expressive of all such works on this subject, conveying the degree of emotional reaction of the apostles to these words of Jesus.

As long as this fresco has existed (more than 500 years), the same number of years researchers and interpreters study this work, finding or trying to find secret signs, symbols, riddles, messages, ... Here and surprise at the quality of the transmitted perspective, evidence of the use of the golden ratio, search for the secret of number 3 (3 windows, 3 groups of apostles, triangle of the figure of Christ). Someone sees on the fresco the image of Mary Magdalene (with the female symbol V and the symbol M associated with her name - this is about Dan Brown), or John the Baptist with his favorite gesture - raised up forefinger... All this is interesting to me, but not very much. As our man - an engineer - Leonardo must be practical, although historical setting makes his own adjustments to the need to use "Aesop's language", and he could leave DATE on his work! Which one? This is his choice, but the date is important for himself or for the whole World of the event. And I started looking for her in the image!

Let me remind you that the most reliable way of fixing dates, which does not depend on the chronology systems, calendar reforms, the duration of the reigns of kings and dukes, the foundations and destruction of cities, and even the appointment of the date of the creation of the World is by the stars, i.e., drawing up a horoscope! And this method was widely used not only in the Middle Ages. You ask, why did I suddenly decide that there might be a date in the image? It seems to me that the author gladly used the gorgeous chance associated with the number 12. 12 hours, 12 months, 12 signs of the Zodiac, 12 apostles, ... Well, I'll also say about the horoscope. It uniquely determines the date if the locations of even seven planets visible to the naked eye in the constellations at the time of observation are indicated. Repetitions of such combinations are very rare and happen hundreds of thousands of years later! (With a smaller number of precisely specified planets, the repetition period is shorter, but still there are very good chances of accurately indicating the date on historical period.) Since modern computational methods based on the laws of celestial mechanics make it possible to restore the position of the planets in the sky at any moment, then to determine the date, it remains only to correctly set the initial data - that is, the location of the planets in constellations on the desired day.

So, I begin to peer and examine.

Apostles. Most likely (because of their number) these are symbols of the signs of the zodiac. But how can the signs be distributed among the characters, to whom which sign corresponds? Several remarks immediately arise.

In many images of this plot, including icons, judging by appearance characters, not only that the seating order is inconsistent, but they also sit in a row, then in a circle, then in groups, that is, there seems to be no canonical order (traditional). For a long time in the image of Leonardo, they could not identify all the characters. Only four were reliably identified (out of 13!): Judas, John, Peter and Christ. Allegedly, in the 19th century, Leonardo's own diaries "showed up" and everything was determined (there were also clues in the form of signatures under the characters on some modern fresco copies of her). Due to the dynamic arrangement of the figures - their "mixing", "peeking" each friend - there is a possibility that the constellations (if any) are not in zodiacal order.

One way or another, in accordance with the prevailing ideas, the fresco depicts (from left to right, in the order of the FACES):

Bartholomew, Jacob Alfeyev, Andrew, Judas Iscariot, Peter, John, Jesus Christ, Thomas, Jacob Zebedee, Philip, Matthew, Judas Thaddeus, Simon.

To identify the signs by which it would be possible to recognize allusions to the signs of the zodiac in the apostles, I tried to collect available factual information about the biographies of the characters, while not knowing what might come in handy from this (table 1):

Their other names and nicknames;

The order of the call by Christ (only the first four are known);

Approximate age based on visual assessment of images (more by copy unknown artist(photo2);

The degree of relationship with Christ and other apostles (who are interested in this topic - I recommend literature, except, of course, the Gospels: James D. Tabor "The Dynasty of Jesus" (AST, 2007), Michael Baigent "Papers of Jesus" (Eksmo, 2008), Robert Ambelain " Jesus or the Deadly Secrets of the Templars "(Eurasia, 2005), VG Nosovsky, AT Fomenko" Tsar of the Slavs "(Neva, 2005)," Apocryphal Legends (Patriarchs, Prophets and Apostles) "edited by V. Vitkovsky (Amphora, 2005));

The occupation of the apostles prior to their ministry;

The circumstances of the death;

Location of the graves and relics of the apostles.

I suggest those who wish to clarify and add details for a more complete filling of the table - this is very interesting, and the information can be useful.

Finding information to fill in this table was very interesting and cognitive process, but he didn’t come up with any ideas I needed!

Let's continue. Since Leonardo arranged the apostles in groups of 3 people, and even mixed them there, then maybe the order of the signs is not important to him? Suddenly, if you really play with these triplets - these are groupings of signs by types of elements ?! Fire, earth, air, water? And what - 4 groups of 3 characters! Or maybe it is necessary to take into account the figure of Christ as a sign of the zodiac, and exclude Judas from consideration altogether !? Indeed, in almost all images of the Last Supper, artists separated Judas from the rest - either they painted with very dark colors, or turned his face away from the viewer, or, like in icons, deprived him, unlike the others, of a halo. And then - what sign can the figure of Christ represent? Maybe his sign is Capricorn? Then it seems like the division into groups is violated and the division into groups itself loses its meaning (if any). Yes, and Judas at Leonardo visual means not very belittled. He, like 7 (!) Other of the 12 apostles, is depicted in profile, but only slightly more turned away from the viewer.

We will further consider the details of the image. Objects on the table: maybe there are clues somewhere - filling and arrangement of glasses, arrangement of breads, plates, salt shakers, other objects, ...? Elements, colors of clothes, ...? Hairstyles, the degree of gray hair, the presence and length of the beard, ...? Stop! Beard! In total, there are seven visible planets and known before the invention of Galileo's pipe, together with the Sun and the Moon, and also Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Thus, the maximum number of pointers to the planets is 7. We count beards: in total, of different lengths, there are 8. Together with the beard of Jesus. But maybe his beard shouldn't be counted? I wonder who is the Sun then, if not him ?! Go ahead - hands. Who's holding what? Maybe some combinations on your fingers? Their mutual position? We fill in the table further so that it is constantly before our eyes. Maybe not right away, but something will open?

Swaying in a chair, sipping ... Or maybe the bearded ones are planets after all, and, for example, some kind of comet? But, after all, out of seven planets, two - female: Venus and the Moon, it is somehow difficult to associate with beards and them too. Let's take a closer look at the apostles: the artist gave two figures a clear feminine appearance: John and Philip - both faces and poses with crossed arms. Maybe this is an allusion to the "female planets"? I sway in my chair again: Leonardo da Vinci during his lifetime was not going to be famous for centuries and wrote the fresco for the Customer and his contemporaries, so that they, with a slight strain of mind, could understand his additional message (except for semantic and aesthetic).

And what is there in the hand of Judas? And Peter? No, Judas, apparently, has a bag of silver coins, which he will soon receive, and Peter has a knife, probably as a symbol of his future (ostentatious?) Determination in the process of arresting Jesus. All these are semantic attributes.

Still, you have to decide. I put forward a hypothesis. The viewer's gaze is instinctively attracted to the figure of Jesus - this is God, this is the Sun! On his right hand is a young, but very energetic and aggressive man (John), whom Jesus, like his brother - Jacob Zavedeev - called Voanerges (Boanerges) - apparently, “very, twice energetic”! They reacted very aggressively and sometimes with anger to injustice, humiliation and insults, and to what was not going the way they would like! Moreover, completely in the style of Caucasians, so that Christ had to restrain them! (this is where the pre-collected information in table1 came in handy -

This implies that they had appropriate hormonal and secondary sex characteristics. And how do we see this aggressive person in Leonardo - yes, this is a humble girl, such that some ( Dan Brown) she is considered a woman - Mary Magdalene! With such a clear discrepancy Leonardo hints - this is the constellation of Virgo! And now let us once again pay attention to Jacob Zebedeev, whose figure (and NOT FACE) is the closest to the left of Christ. He spread his arms in different directions. According to commentators, he restrains the apostles who emotionally perceived the words of Christ (or, perhaps, physically protects Jesus from a possible uncontrolled release of energy (this is him, Voanerges!). And what do I see? With his arms outstretched, he looks like ... a Libra! !! Then it turns out that Jesus the Sun is between the constellations Virgo and Libra! And all the signs are arranged in the usual order - from Aries to Pisces! And where are the other planets, except the Sun? I get up to sit in a rocking chair. spread out tables, printouts of the fresco. Mama mia! (I hit myself on the forehead!) Yes, there they are, the signs of the planets !!! Simply obvious! In the most conspicuous place! handle, well, and a little sway in the chair.

I draw your attention - since we identified Jacob the Elder with Libra, this means that the constellations are distributed not in the order of the FACES, but in the order of the seated FIGURES!

Leonardo da Vinci's painting "The Last Supper" anticipates new stage development Italian art- High Renaissance.

The illusory space visually continues the real space of the refectory. The planes of the side walls and ceiling going into the depths act as an illusory continuation of the walls and ceiling of the refectory, but do not completely coincide with them due to their somewhat forced spatial perspective. In addition, the table with the figures sitting behind it is located slightly above the level of the refectory floor, and the figures are not shown in full size, but slightly larger. Thus, the impression of complete optical unity of real and illusory spaces is eliminated, their interconnection becomes more complicated, losing their uniqueness. The sacred action is no longer confused with everyday and everyday affairs and appears to be more important and significant.

Even more striking is the impression of the extreme tension of the plot conflict, which the fresco of Leonardo leaves behind. It is achieved through a carefully thought-out composition of a picturesque story about a gospel event. The moment is shown when Jesus just uttered his words: “... one of you eating with Me will betray Me,” and therefore all compositional trajectories are drawn to his figure - not only the optical, but also the semantic center of the work. Lonely and isolated from the rest, additionally highlighted by the image of a window behind Christ's back, falling into the focus of the convergence of perspective lines, his figure acts as a sign of unshakable calmness and unshakable confidence in the correctness of the chosen path. Spatial “pauses” on either side of it are visually read as an image of a truly “deathly” silence that immediately followed his words, replaced by a discord of perplexed exclamations and in unison the sounding “isn't it me?”.

Each of the figures of the apostles represents certain type expression, with the help of the language of facial expressions and gestures, personifying bewilderment, anger, fear. To bring together all this variety of mental movements, Leonardo subjects the image to rigid compositional discipline. It can be noted that the apostles are united in groups, of three in each, which is why, in opposition to each other, their figures receive additional expressiveness. With this principle of compositional grouping, the internal rhythm of the action is revealed with amazing clarity, moreover, it gets the opportunity to develop in time. In fact, in each of the groups a certain stage of comprehension of the words heard from the Teacher is presented. An explosion of emotions, the epicenter of which is in the center of the table, where Jesus is sitting, in the form of a diminishing echo, rolls to the ends of the table, from where, through the gestures of the apostles sitting on its ends, it returns to its starting point - the figure of Christ.