Old Masters · Luke 22:19 · 4 October 2026 · 4 works

The Last Supper

And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

The same table four times, each time seen differently.

Bouts sets the table in a Flemish hall of his own time. Christ sits exactly in the middle, raises his hand in blessing and holds the bread. Servants of the house look on, two of them through a hatch in the wall.

Dieric Bouts, The Last Supper, 1464–68 — **Dieric Bouts**, The Last Supper, 1464–68

Jesus has just said that one of them will betray him. The shock runs down the table to both sides and gathers the twelve into four groups of three. He himself sits still in the middle, in front of the window.

Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, c. 1495–98 — **Leonardo da Vinci**, The Last Supper, c. 1495–98

Juanes took the arrangement from Leonardo and changed the moment: Christ lifts up the host. The apostles have their names written in their haloes. Judas has none; he sits in front, in yellow, and hides the purse.

Juan de Juanes, The Last Supper, c. 1562 — **Juan de Juanes**, The Last Supper, c. 1562

Tintoretto turns the table until it runs diagonally into the dark. A lamp flares under the ceiling, angels form out of its smoke, and servants go on working in the foreground. It is one of his last pictures.

Jacopo Tintoretto, The Last Supper, 1592–94 — **Jacopo Tintoretto**, The Last Supper, 1592–94