If the Medici had their way, today’s Easter faithful might be processing not in the direction of Jerusalem or to St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, but towards Florence, former home of this fantastically wealthy Italian banking dynasty. The Medici family’s plan in the 16th century to move the tomb of Christ all the way from the Holy Sepulchre on Calvary to stand in the centre of their dynastic mausoleum was thwarted by a reticent Pasha, who, despite the offer of molto fiorini, knew the value of a good tourist attraction.
Fortunately the Medici did leave one or two places of interest for the visitor, so we never need an excuse to visit Florence. However, the city does have an Easter surprise which, along with the spring sunshine, makes it a suitable paschal destination. Tucked away in various convents and cloisters are more than a dozen important examples of 15th and 16th-century paintings of the Last Supper.
This accompanying Catholic Herald touristic map is designed to guide the paschal pilgrim on a circular route that allows for a complete appreciation of the city’s numerous Last Supper paintings.
In the realm of religious iconography, the Cenacolo (Last Supper) represents the origins of Christian worship, depicting Christ’s initiation of his disciples into the celebration of Holy Mass, the transubstantiation of bread and wine into his body and blood as the son of god and saviour of mankind. The second-century Catacombs of Domitilla on the Via Appia includes a fresco of the Last Supper, Christ and his disciples positioned around a semi-circular table, reclining to dine in the Roman fashion.
As a ubiquitous decorative feature of the convents and priories of medieval and Renaissance Italy, Cenacoli were appropriately executed on the large end walls of the refectories of the important holy sites featured on this map. They were contrived to ensure that eating was incorporated as another part of the contemplative life, Christ and his disciples always present, seated behind a long table, Judas distinguished by his placement on the side of the viewer. The fish or paschal lamb on the tables of early Cenacoli were replaced by the bread and wine of the Holy Host. The painter’s deployment of illusionistic space beyond the picture plane placed the faithful as a part of the action within Christ’s expansive gesture.
The perspectival loggias and shelves of Ghirlandaio’s Last Supper masterpieces, one at San Marco and the other at the Ognissanti, are populated with peacocks, fruit trees and vases of flowers. This idealistic and harmonious environment anticipates the afterlife paradise where Christ’s disciples are reunited with their saviour, a theme which is often suggested as underpinning the earliest Last Supper paintings.
Like most large-scale decorative interior schemes of the period and locale, a Cenacolo was painted in situ directly into wet plaster in the fresco style using pigments bound with egg yolk, called tempera. Exceptions can be seen in the Last Supper paintings of Giorgio Vasari and Plautilla Nelli, which are executed using oil paint on wooden panel and canvas respectively, as well as in the case of the best known of them all, Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, in the dining room of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan. In the context of this particular tour, Leonardo’s masterpiece is a mere hour and a half away by train, should the Easter pilgrim wish to experience 15 minutes with the ne plus ultra of the genre. Also in Milan is Daniele Crespi’s striking 1624 Cenacolo, at Pinacoteca di Brera. The enduring impact of Leonardo’s Last Supper is in part due to the artist’s choice of materials, which allowed him to work in an intuitive fashion, making numerous changes as part of refining the expressive power of his figures, but which were discovered to be incompatible with the plaster support of his masterpiece.
The fading and crumbling state of Leonardo’s Last Supper no doubt adds to its otherworldly presence as a poetical evocation of the mystery of the Sacraments. It is also set apart from other Florentine examples in the way he deploys an aspect of the story other than the institution of the eucharist.
The painter’s decision to break with the solemn and mystical iconography by depicting Christ’s announcement of betrayal allowed the artist to create a masterwork, innovative in its drama and emotional intensity, both novel and compelling.
Our cartographic tour of Florence’s Cenacoli, in light of the ubiquity of Leonardo’s interpretation of this crucial scene from the Gospels, will help the paschal pilgrim to revive the original status of Last Supper paintings when seen in context as a part of daily life, premising their deeper meaning as spaces of continued utility, thanksgiving and devotion.
Adam Dant is an artist based in London
SOME practical advice for the Last Supper tourist: starting at the monastery of San Marco and ending at the Basilica of Santa Croce, it is possible to complete the route shown by the dotted red line on the map in a leisurely fashion in a day.
As many of the refectories close at 1pm (always check opening days and times), the tour is designed to allow for a lunch break in Santo Spirito square, close to the excellent Trattoria La Casalinga. The optional Cenacolo by Franciabigio at the Convitto della Calza is slightly off the map near Porta Roma but can be visited after lunch (booking by phone is essential).
Also slightly off the map, Andrea del Sarto’s Last Supper at the San Salvi is an optional starting place for this tour via a quick bus ride. Just ring the bell at the gate at 8.15am. While many of the Cenacoli can be viewed for free, the larger churches charge an entrance fee – and visiting the example in the perfumery of Santa Maria Novella will no doubt involve the purchase of fine soaps, colognes and elixirs.
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