Leonardo's Last Supper in Santa Maria delle Grazie
On the wall of the former refectory of the Dominican convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Leonardo da Vinci painted between 1494 and 1498 the Last Supper, one of the most famous works of art in the world, commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, known as il Moro. Together with the church, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Leonardo captured the dramatic moment when Jesus announces that one of the apostles will betray him: the twelve react in groups of three, with gestures and expressions of surprise, indignation and dismay, while Christ, at the centre, is the calm vanishing point of the perspective. Instead of the traditional fresco technique, Leonardo experimented with tempera and oil on dry plaster, which allowed him to work slowly but caused the painting to begin to deteriorate within a few years. After centuries of damage, including a bomb that hit the refectory in 1943, a long restoration completed in 1999 recovered what remains of the original colours.
Tip: visits are limited to small groups for 15 minutes, and tickets sell out weeks or months in advance: book as early as possible on the official website.
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