The Seating Plan at the Last Supper (an article on what this really was like)

[mdgspencer]

The seating arrangements at the Last Supper were quite different from what we imagine. They would not have sat on chairs around a table.
blog.adw.org/2012/04/the-seating-plan-at-the-last-supper-2

 

[Tietjen]

The seating arrangements at the Last Supper were quite different from what we imagine. They would not have sat on chairs around a table.
blog.adw.org/2012/04/the-seating-plan-at-the-last-supper-2

Nor would they have all sat on one side of the table so that Leonardo da Vinci could paint his work of art.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Leonardo_da_Vinci_-Ultima_cena-ca_1975.jpg/350px-Leonardo_da_Vinci-Ultima_cena-_ca_1975.jpg

 

[PatrickSanDiego]

Nor would they have all sat on one side of the table so that Leonardo da Vinci could paint his work of art.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Leonardo_da_Vinci_-Ultima_cena-ca_1975.jpg/350px-Leonardo_da_Vinci-Ultima_cena-_ca_1975.jpg

…On TV they always eat all on one side. So, maybe at the Last Supper they knew they were in front of a worldwide viewing audience.

 

[patrick457]

…On TV they always eat all on one side. So, maybe at the Last Supper they knew they were in front of a worldwide viewing audience.

It reminds me of that scene from Mel Brooks’ History of the World: Part 1 where Leonardo literally comes in the Upper Room. “Okay, everybody who want to be in the picture, get up and go to the other side of the table.”

 

[mdgspencer]

The priest during his sermon here last Sunday spoke about Leonardo’s painting. He said that someone asked the painter why he had everyone seated on one side of the table, and Leonardo said that he left one side of the table empty so that we could join them at the Last Supper. I haven’t tried to verify this story.

 

[PatrickSanDiego]

The priest during his sermon here last Sunday spoke about Leonardo’s painting. He said that someone asked the painter why he had everyone seated on one side of the table, and Leonardo said that he left one side of the table empty so that we could join them at the Last Supper. I haven’t tried to verify this story.

I remember reading or hearing something that Leonardo DaVinci wasn’t on real good terms with the Church in his later years. Something about he supported the rival Pope? He supported something that was overturned, and as a result, wasn’t commissioned again. I don’t know, I heard it so long ago. DaVinci was gay too, wasn’t he? Nothing to the OP, but Michaelangelo has always been my favorite between the two.

 

[patrick457]

The priest during his sermon here last Sunday spoke about Leonardo’s painting. He said that someone asked the painter why he had everyone seated on one side of the table, and Leonardo said that he left one side of the table empty so that we could join them at the Last Supper. I haven’t tried to verify this story.

I don’t know about that, but it is true that Leonardo tries to create the illusion of a bigger building in the mural.