The Last Supper
7:00 AM |
| Andrea Del Castagno, The Last Supper,1445-1450 |
During his time, Andrea Del Castagno was under appreciated. It wasn't until years after his death that the Benedictine Church reexamined his paintings and found the beauty of Castagno’s work as a painter. In particular, Castagno’s Last Supper could be hailed as one of the greatest paintings of its time. As written in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus was asked by his followers where he was going to eat for Passover. Jesus told the disciple he was going to eat inside another disciple’s house. So arrangements were made and Jesus sat down with the other disciples at the table. Suddenly, he stopped eating to say “One of you will betray me.” Each disciple came to Jesus to ask if he was going to betray him. Suddenly, every disciple but Judas was told. Judas looked up and retorted to Jesus, “Surely you don’t mean me my lord” to which Jesus replied, “You have said so.”
The powerful image of Christ is a prominent subject in religious paintings. Castagno’s
painting is unique. The two walls on either side are not parallel to each other
and neither are the floor and the ceiling. Also, instead of the usual empty
side of the table portrayed by many other painters, Castagno placed Judas
directly opposite to Jesus emphasizing his deceit. A The Last Supper, though his walls weren't parallel,
almost everything else in the painting is geometrically arranged. The strange block-like paintings/tiles in the background are all parallel to each other.
Growing up in a Hindu
household, I never had the inclination to read excerpts from the Bible (let
alone the actual book). However, reading it this year, I find there are many
takeaways that help with life in general. For example, Jesus knows Judas will
betray him, but allows him to continue on with his life (and even is friendly
towards him). Judas, despite knowing that Jesus knows, still betrays him, and
Jesus still goes up onto the cross and forgives everybody who did wrong to him.
0 comments