Leonardo Da Vinci, a noted Italian artist
painted the Last Supper; and the time engaged for it’s completion was seven
years. The figures representing the twelve Apostles and Christ himself were
painted from living persons. The life-model for the painting of the figure of
Jesus was chosen first. When it was decided that Da Vinci would paint this
great picture, hundreds and hundreds of young men were carefully viewed in an endeavor
to find a face and personality exhibiting innocence and beauty, free from the
scars and signs of dissipation caused by sin.
Finally,
after weeks of laborious search, a young man nineteen years of age, was
selected as a model for the portrayal of Christ. For six months DaVinci worked
on the production of this leading character of his famous painting.
During the
next six years DaVinci continued his labors on this sublime work of art. One by
one fitting persons were chosen to represent each of the eleven Apostles; space
being left for the painting of the figure representing Judas Iscariot as the
final task of this masterpiece. This was the Apostle, you remember, who
betrayed his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, worth in our present day
currency $16.96.
For weeks Da
Vinci searched for a man with a hard, callous face, with a countenance marked
by scars of avarice, deceit, hypocrisy, and crime; a face that would delineate
a character who would betray his best friend.
After many
discouraging experiences in searching for the type of person required to
represent Judas, word came to Da Vinci that a man whose appearance fully met
his requirements had been found in a dungeon in Rome, sentenced to die for a
life of crime and murder.
Da Vinci
made the trip to Rome at once, and this man was brought out from his
imprisonment in the dungeon and led out into the light of the sun. There
DaVinci saw before him a dark, swarthy man; his long shaggy and unkempt hair
sprawled over his face, which betrayed a character of viciousness and complete
ruin. At last the famous painter had found the person he wanted to represent
the character of Judas in his painting.
By special
permission from the king, this prisoner was carried to Milan where the picture
was being painted. For months he sat before Da Vinci at appointed hours each
day as the gifted artist diligently continued his task of transmitting, to his
painting, this base character representing the traitor and betrayer of our
Savior. As he finished his last stroke, he turned to the guards and said, “I
have finished. You may take the prisoner away.”
As the
guards were leading their prisoner away, he suddenly broke loose from their
control and rushed up to Da Vinci, crying as he did so, “O, Da Vinci, look at
me! Do you not know who I am?”
Da Vinci,
with the trained eyes of a great character student, carefully scrutinized the
man upon whose face he had constantly gazed for six months and replied, “No, I
have never seen you in my life until you were brought before me out of the
dungeon in Rome.”
Then,
lifting his eyes toward heaven, the prisoner said, “Oh, God, have I fallen so
low?” Then turning his face to the painter he cried, “Leonardo DaVinci! Look at
me again for I am the same man you painted just seven years ago as the figure
of Christ.”
This is the
true story of the painting of The Last Supper. It teaches so strongly the
lesson of the effects of right or wrong thinking on the life of an individual.
Here was a young man whose character was so pure, unspoiled by the sins of the
world, that he represented a countenance of innocence and beauty fit to be used
for the painting of a representation of Christ.
But within
seven years, following the thoughts of sin and a life of crime, he was changed
into a perfect picture of the most traitorous character ever known in the
history of the world.
— Author Unknown