Leonardo's "Last Supper"

We returned to Milan after spending the weekend in Tuscany. The drive was long and I was lucky enough to get the driver's side back-seat while driving north in the afternoon. This means that the sun was beating down on me the whole trip. It would have been cooler to drive with the windows open, but the air conditioner was on, and that seemed to suit the people in the front seats just fine. After refusing to for some time, I resorted to wearing a big brimmed woman's hat that blocked the sun very well. In any case, we got to Milan in one piece after a three and a half hour car ride.

Recovering from that ride, we didn't do anything on Monday. But on Tuesday we went to a church called Santa Maria delle Grazie. The church is certainly interesting enough, but the crown jewel of this church is the "Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci. The painting is not in the main church, but rather, is in the old convent. Apparently, during World War II, bombing had destroyed the building, and all the walls fell, except this one. Perhaps this was divine intervention.

They only allow twenty-five people to come into the room at a time, and only for fifteen minutes. The time limit is enough time to look at the "Last Supper" and one other painting on the opposite wall of Christ's crucifixion by a painter whose name I forget, and whose claim to fame just might be to have a the only other painting in the room with the "Last Supper." As I was lead into the room, we stop first in a glass covered space with electronic doors, where twenty-five people fit snugly. We wait there for a few minutes, and then are led into another room just the same. It felt as though we were entering a bank vault.

Having never been here before, I had expectations as to what to I would see, having seen the room and the painting on television shows, or books, or other media. However, when I walked into the room, the painting was bigger, and lower, and closer than I had expected. This had the effect on me of a coming on strong and fast. I sat at a bench and contemplated the painting for a while. I can't remember what I thought, perhaps nothing. Maybe it was just an attitude of meditation that over took me.

They did not allow photos to be taken of the painting, so I have none. I still don't have a cable for my camera, so even if I did take a photo, I would not have been able to post it. That said, I feel justified in offering the photo above from another source.