Cenacolo Vinciano

The painting is based on the Gospel of John, 13.21, in which  Jesus announces that he will be betrayed by one of his Apostles.. The opera is based on the tradition of Florentine cenacles, but the iconography was profoundly reimagined in pursuit of the more intimate and emotionally significant meaning of the religious episode. Indeed Leonardo reveals the “motions of the souls” of the apostles, surprised and dismayed at the announcement of the impending betrayal by one of their number. Over the years, many attempts were made to limit the damage of the painting. In the first years of the 19th century the painter Luigi Cavenagh reglued the parts that were peeling away from the wall. Following the second world war, ‘The Last Supper” was damaged even more greatly. In 1977 the most delicate and challenging restoration was undertaken, an operation that would last more than 20 years.