Last Supper Paintings in Venice

Last Supper Paintings in Venice

Last Suppers in the Refectories of Renaissance Florence - Link

Anyone used to the Last Supper Frescos in the Refectories of Renaissance Florence, will wonder whether their oil painted Venetian counterparts relate to the same event! As elsewhere in this city of conspicuous display and consumption, Venetian Last Suppers are over the top celebrations of artistic licence, led by Veronese's "Feast at the House of Levy" .....

This enormous and sumptuous "Last Supper" (5.55M high and 13.10M wide), now occupies the entire end wall of the huge Room 10 of the Accademia.

It was painted by Veronese in 1573 for the refectory of SS Giovanni e Paolo. He was hauled before the Inquisition on 8 July 1573 and asked to explain himself ..........

Link to another monster Veronese Last Supper (this one code named the "Wedding at Cana") which faces the Mona Lisa in the Louvre (Paris) and is therefore not often noticed!

Q: What is the meaning of those men dressed in the German fashion each with a halberd* in his hand?

A: We painters take the same licence that is permitted to poets and jesters. I have placed these two halberds - the one eating the other drinking - by the staircase, to be supposed ready to perform any duty that may be required of them; it appearing to me quite fitting that the master of such a house, who was rich and great (as I have been told), should have such attendants.

Q: That fellow dressed like a buffoon, with the parrot on his wrist - for what purpose is he introduced into the canvas?

A: For ornament, as is usually done.

Q: Were you commissioned by any person to paint Germans and buffoons, and such like things in this picture?

A: No, my lord.

Q: Does it appear to you fitting that at our Lord's last supper you should paint buffoons, drunkards, Germans, dwarfs, and similar indecencies?

A: No, my lord

* A halberd was a combination spear and battle axe

This was clearly not a meeting of minds. The inquisitors suggested several changes to the painting, probably relating to the removal of Germans and buffoons etc, but in the end nothing at all was changed and a very Italian solution was negotiated - the work was retitled "The Feast at the House of Levi".

This account is taken from an accessible and very entertaining paperback book "A Literary Companion to Venice" by Ian Littlewood, which became our constant companion over coffee, lunch, drinks etc as we explored this fascinating and unique city.

At 3.65M by 5.68M, this slightly smaller work by Tintoretto, the Ghirlandaio of Venetian Last Suppers (in the sense of pervasiveness), is in San Giorgio Maggiore

Two more modest suppers by Tintoretto - on the left in the church of San Polo, and on the right in the sacristy of Santo Stefano.

This much much smaller 1517 painting is to be found in the museum of Byzantine iconic art at the Greek church of San Giorgio

Not in Venice, but just for interest and style contrast here is a Flemish Last Supper painted in the 1400s by Dieric Bouts.

Back in Venice, not the last supper, but the one at Emmaus, probably by Carpaccio and certainly brilliantly restored and in the Church of San Salvador near the Rialto Bridge. More formal but also just as exotic! Venice was the numero uno maritime trading power of the Eastern Mediterranean for a long time, and the casts appearing in its art reflect the varied mix of people it came across.

Link to Last Suppers in the Refectories of Renaissance Florence

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