Source Of Light For The Whole Painting example essay topic

The Last Supper has been and will be one of the most talked about works of Leonardo Da Vinci's work of art. The work of art was started in 1495 and was completed in 1498; it contained the event depicted in the bible as the final days when Jesus announced that he would be betrayed by one of his twelve disciples". Leonardo had chosen to depict the moment when Jesus says, "One of you will betray me". 1 The painting is located in the dining hall of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan Italy.

The painting was commissioned by Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza. The painting it self has a massive presence of 15 feet high by 29 feet wide. Even though most facts stated that the painted was not completed until three years after it was started. It was also well known that Da Vinci was a procrastinator, meaning the he did not consistently work on the art for a time period of three years but on and off when he had the time, subjects and motivation. It is said that most of his time with the painting was looking for model for the art work it is said that when he working on the picture it's self he would stare at it for hours and then climb the ladder and paint for hours. Later he would not be seen for days and then show up paint a few stokes ad leave again.

Much of the work was sporadically done. The painting was done on a large dry stone wall that was first treated with a base or primer. The stone wall was sealed with a layer of pitch, gesso and mastic. From there it was painted with tempera. Unlike most other murals of the time that were painted in fresco which has shown even today it has a lasting effect. Unfortunately, the work of art The Last Supper was not able to stand the test of time.

This untried method at the time caused the painting to begin deterioration within twenty year of completion. The outcome was that the pigment began to break loose from its base causing the masterpiece to decay over time. Most blame the brick wall it was painted on because of the changes in the wall due to temperature, humidity and moisture which all affected the pigments of paint and the base it was painted on. Many different design elements went into the work of The Last Supper. Elements such as one point perspective, chiaroscuro, lighting, and atmospheric perspective where used to create this art work. The one point perspective used Jesus' head as the vantage point of the painting, which was also used as some say a source of light.

The head of Jesus also seems to be a source of light for the whole painting. The head was placed in front of the largest window in the painting. In this window and other to the side of the one main one was the element atmospheric perspective, which used techniques such as brightness, manipulations of cool and warm colors, and color saturation, to show the depth of the painting. The techniques of chiaroscuro which is the gradual shifting from light to dark over curved surfaces using successive graduation of tones, it was mainly used on many of the faces and feet and arms of Jesus and his apostil's.

This was used to show the human like qualities in this work of art. The main technique used in this painting was one point perspective. Although much of the painting is true to form one trick Da Vinci used was "we can see the table though we shouldn't be able to from where we stand"2. Some others also say that there is a second source of light due to ability to see shadows on the feet.

But over time this is not as noticeable due to many years after the painting was done a door way placed under the picture which removed some of the bottom of the painting.

Bibliography

1. Understanding Art seventh edition Lois Fi chner-Rath us 360-3612. The Last Supper, Leonardo web.