da Vinci's Last Supper painting

[JesPrinee]

What's with the big 'V' shaped gap? I've never understood this

And why are they all crammed onto only one side of the table?

Isn't the V between Jesus and Mary M meant represent the symbol for female/femininity/fertility? Or even a womb.

I'm sure that's what Dan Brown said anyway.

Because they were posing for the painting, natch 🤣

Restaurant must have been so pissed off.

“Hi, reservation for Jesus”

”Great, we have your table of 26 ready. Do you want to wait until your full party arrives to be seated”.

“No, it’s ok. We just really like sitting on the same side”.

It’s where they scribbled out the women 😂

To draw your eye through to the window and beyond creating the illusion of depth.

I'm just guessing at artistic composition - he bothered to paint a view from windows, so wanted it seen?

or are you thinking there's significance that there's a gap between Jesus and John?

One of those popular philosophy type books had it as a symbol of the Holy Grail, if imagined as a cup/chalice shape.

Ooh yes, this too, just to the left of the vanishing point as well!

Because he started with the room and landscape bit, then the apprentices started, one on the left, one on the right - and then they realised there was a bloody great gap in the middle for the Boss to paint Jesus?

I think I read it was something to do with painting groups if 3 people was easier than trying to make all of them interact with each other

To me, it is just there because of the way people are sat in the painting

I don't go for all this 'well a blue flower in a red vase represents the meaning of life' nonsense

Some artists just paint because they like the scenery, shape, colour of what they are doing

Yeah sure there is probably heaps of documentaries and studies on this painting and all the symbolism of all the whatever

That's what I was going to say

The artist is inviting us in to the wide openness of a typical river valley. He wants us to experience the vastness of the mountains, dwarfing the trees below as the scree gently rubs down into a river valley. I think the real issue here is there needs to be more snow, shadows and sunset. The artist is robbing us of the rich frozen landscape of Montana, indeed we feel cheated by his mountains of eastern Mediterranean origin.

The real thing does not look that colourful.

Renaissance diagonals, golden triangle (no sniggering in the back row) and all that.

At least he finished this one, even if it never really stuck to the wall.

Is the hill in the distance meant to be the hill of Calvary where Jesus will be crucified?

One fundamental flaw in the tablecloth. No single piece could be folded as many times as the cloth suggests.

Are the creases maybe pin-tucking though?

Other than that, a normal works night out I imagine. Looks like a grazing table too.

@JesPrinee sorry I did study Art History and I’m being facile.

There is a copy of it, painted in da Vinci's studio, in the Royal Academy. Much better colour than the original, so good for seeing the detail, and practically on your own too.

Details (and analysis) here:

www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/how-to-read-it-copy-of-leonardo-da-vinci-last-supper

What would the significance be of the knife in this lads hand? And is he pointing at JC? Or messing with that persons neck?

That’s just a Dan Brown interpretation for his book
Person to the left of Jesus facing the painting is St John

Artists were paid to paint religious scenes. Landscapes weren't yet the fashion. If a painter wanted to paint a landscape he probably wouldn't get paid to do just that so he had to find a way of incidentally putting a little landscape in to his religious paintings.

Peter is holding the knife, he cuts a guards ear trying to stop Jesus being arrested

Judas ( dark hair ) is holding a bag of gold and reaching for a piece of bread.
Jesus, after telling everyone that someone was going to betray him says something like it’s the person reaching/ dipping into food who shall betray me. Jesus and Judas are the two who are reaching for food