Last Supper (Tintoretto)
| Last Supper | |
|---|---|
Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice |
The Last Supper is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist
Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice
, Italy.
Overview
Tintoretto depicted the
, is probably the best-known example. Tintoretto's painting of 1592–1594, a work of his final years, departs drastically from this compositional formula. The centre of the scene is occupied not by the apostles but instead by secondary characters, such as a woman carrying a dish and the servants taking the dishes from the table. The table at which the apostles sit recedes into space on a steep diagonal. Furthermore, Tintoretto's painting features a more personal use of light, which appears to come into obscurity from both the light on the ceiling and from Jesus'angels
hover above the scene.
Tintoretto's Last Supper makes use of
Mannerist devices in its complex and radically asymmetrical composition. In its dynamism and emphasis on the quotidian—the setting is similar to a Venetian inn—the painting points the way to the Baroque. "The ability of this dramatic scene to engage viewers was well in keeping with Counter-Reformation ideals and the Catholic Church's belief in the didactic nature of religious art."[1]
References
- ^ Gardner's Art Through the Ages, Volume II, 13th edition. p. 494.
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