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15th September

We went for a walk to Piazza della Scala, home to the city's famous opera house which was designed by Giuseppe Piermarini in 1776-1778, to hold up to 2,000 spectators. We decided that rather than take a tour through the theatre, we would try and get last minute tickets to the final performance for the month. The deal was you had to come back at 6pm.

We went for a walk, had lunch then went back for the tickets, after working out the system we finally managed to get some (which were close to the last ones!!) and then had an hour and forty five minutes to get back to the hotel using the underground, shower and get back for the show! It was a challenge but we’ve been under pressure many times in our travels last year and managed it with ease!!

The Last Supper...

Tav
2006-10-23 14:02:35

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down in the Gospel texts: reference to the betrayal of Jesus Christ and the counter-motif to the betrayal. These ideas were realised in prior portraits with the image of Jesus feeding his traitor, Judas, a piece of bread dipped in wine, and John reclining his head against the breast of the Lord. It was from this tradition, familiar to all predecessors, that Leonardo chose to depart. His conception of the theme was completely dominated by the idea of bringing out the announcement of the betrayal as the dramatic central motif.

The faces in the painting, with the exception of Jesus (center figure), are reportedly those of actual people Leonardo sought out in Milan. Reportedly, Leonardo spent much time wandering through jails with Milanese criminals to locate the appropriate Judas (fourth figure from left of painting). In addition to using living models from some of the disciples, Leonardo surrounded them with objects then in everyday use. The tablecloth, knives, forks, glassware, and china were all similar to those of the monks residing at the monastery.

Leonardo kept Judas within the company of his fellow Apostles within his depiction. In earlier paintings of the Last Supper, Judas had been shown to the side of the table as he was fed the bread dipped in wine by Jesus Christ in an effort to display him as shunned. However, as the fourth figure on the left, Leonardo portrays Judas as recoiling from Jesus. He is the only figure whose face is lost in the shadow, a subtle indication that he is lost from the light of Christ. He is also the only individual other than Christ to not be portrayed in the wave of emotion that seems to increase from left to right in the painting in an attempt to symbolise his guilt.

Leonardo's Last Supper was reopened to the public in May 1999. The painting is now preserved by a sophisticated air filtration system, moisture monitored environment, and dust-filtering chambers.

The painting displays much details, including spilt salt near one of the Apostles which apparently symbolises bad luck Spilt salt and there were many other items showed which had great meaning. During one of the restorations of the painting however, one of the Apostles hands was turned into a bread roll!!!

For those of you that are interested I found this excellent site http://milano.arounder.com/da_vinci_last_supper/fullscreen.html if you click on the 3rd click to view’ from the left and you can zoom in on the painting and pretend that you were there with us!!