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Artists of the Italian Renaissance Paintings by Artists of the Italian Renaissance
Frescos of Last Suppers in Florence's Renaissance Refectories link to Florence Restaurant listing
Back to overview of Paradoxplace Florence pages
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Paintings of Last Suppers in Venice Leonardo's Last Supper in Milan
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"The frescoed representations of the Last Supper by Domenico Ghirlandaio in Florence and in the Abbey at Passignano, which just predate Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper in Milan, are characterized by a descriptive naturalism. Leonardo’s exceptional masterpiece, on the other hand, served to glorify and spread the Florentine "fashion" in Northern Italy. In Florence, Franciabigio’s technique in his Cenacolo della Calza was highly influenced by Leonardo, while the colour and light of an Umbrian landscape characterize Perugino’s Cenacolo di Foligno. In the Last Supper at San Salvi, Andrea del Sarto surpasses the existing tradition imparting to his painting a luminosity worthy of Michelangelo and a psychological penetration that renders the figures full of "magnitude, majesty and infinite grace"". Extract from the Commune di Firenze information brochure.
As with most paintings of the time, Last Suppers were often vehicles for displays of excellence in the newly discovered science of painting perspective (first attributed to Brunelleschi in 1434), and they were also attractive propositions for narrative fresco painters like Ghirlandaio who excelled in facial expressions..
Note that opening hours are often limited and can change, and there are specific days on which some places are closed. It's best to check before going if it matters!
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More information from the Florence Website
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Cenacolo di Ognissanti - Domenico Ghirlandaio 1480
Borgognissanti 42. Open 9am to Midday - Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays. Don't forget that the church of Ognissanti is next door, and just down the road at number 4/r is the fascinating BM Bookshop, full of books in English.
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Cenacolo di Foglino - Perugino c1495
Just ring the bell of Via Faenza 42 (near and to the east of the Santa Maria Novella railway station) on Mon, Tue or Sat between 9 and 12.
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Cenacolo di San Marco - Domenico Ghirlandaio 1482
Pz San Marco. Open weekdays (except Mon?) 8.15 - 1.50, most weekends 8.30 - 7.00. This fresco is in the old private refectory ("director's dining room") where important guests and visitors were dined, and which is sadly now San Marco's bookshop. Many people miss it as they hunt down their favourite post cards.
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Cenacolo di Santa Apollonia - Andrea del Castagno c1450
Just round the corner from San Marco - Via XXVII Aprile 1. Open 9 to 2 every day except Monday, entry free.
There is not much more in the refectory of this old convent than this last supper by Castagno. The convent was extensively decorated by him, but the works have mostly decayed or been knocked down. It's a nice cool place to rest up for a bit, and entry is free.
Also close by at Via Cavour 69, are the Chiostro dello Scalzo - remnant of a cloister with monochrome frescos by Andrea del Sarto and Franciabigio (aka Francesco di Cristoforo Bigi). Open Monday and Thursday 9 to 1.
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Cenacolo di San Salvi - Andrea del Sarto between 1511 and 1530
Via San Salvi 16. This most dramatic and interesting of Florence's Last Suppers is open between 8.15 and 13.50 every day except Monday.
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Cenacolo di Badia a Passignano - Domenico and Davide Ghirlandaio 1476
This one will need a car - it used to only be open at afternoon tea time on Sundays, but in 2005 even this seems to have stopped for restoration work. The Badia is however in the middle of some of the most beautiful country in central Chianti (including the Antinori family vineyards) and near some very good restaurants (which must be booked for Sunday lunches!). There are also (or anyway used to be) chamber music concerts held there.
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Cenacolo di Santa Croce - Taddeo Gaddi c1340 Museo dell’Opera di Santa Croce, open every day except Wed, 10 - 12.30, 2.30 - 4.30 (less in winter)
Above and left. One of the first great representations of the Last Supper in Florence was painted just before the Black Death of 1348. It sits as a relatively small strip under the much bigger "tree of the cross" by the same artist, in the great refectory hall (below) of the early 1300s Franciscan Santa Croce monastery (now part of the Museo dell’Opera di Santa Croce). |
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Above and below. Cenacolo della Calza - Piazza della Calza 6 (on the left behind Porto Romano) - Last Supper (1514) by Franciabigio (aka Francesco di Cristoforo Bigi 1482 - 1525), as close as Florence gets to Leonardo's famous, overtouristed and very deteriorated last supper in Milan (da Vinci Code fans please note) which is shown below. In the 1300s there was a hospital / convent here run by the Dames of Malta. They commissioned the Last Supper fresco, but then sadly had to leave their home as a result of the 1529 siege of Florence. They were replaced by Jesuits who changed the dedication of the church from S. Giovanni (alla Porta di San Pier Gattolino) to San Giusto (presumably alla Porta Romana). The "calza" came from the white hood worn by the Jesuit lay bretheren.
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| For da Vinci Code readers, this is the much deteriorated 1497 Leonardo Last Supper in Milan | |
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This Last Supper is a panel in an Altar Screen in the Cistercian Nunnery of Santa Maria del Salvador at Cañas in La Rioja, Spain
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A Flemish Last Supper from the 1400s by Dieric Bouts (not in Florence either, but an interesting contrast) |
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Links to other Paradoxplace pages
All original material © Adrian Fletcher 2000-08 - may not be hotlinked, or reproduced without permission
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