1999 Leonardo’s restored “Last Supper” is back on display
This is the painting that keeps on wanting to disappear. Commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, it took Leonardo from 1495 to 1498 to complete. Unfortunately, humidity began eating away at the picture almost as soon as it was completed. Within 50 years it was almost invisible and observers felt it was ruined; no one seems to have objected when builders created a doorway through the mess on the wall and later bricked it up. Numerous attempts at restoration were made, based on several excellent copies that had been made, but these were not successful and more damage was done by occupying French troops in the days of Napoleon. In 1943 the convent that housed it was hit by Allied bombs; though the painting had been walled by sandbags the vibration of the explosions did more damage.
In 1978 a twenty-year restoration project began. The site was sealed and made climate-controlled; centuries of dirt were removed; and the old repair work was removed. Some areas were beyond repair and are marked by pastel watercolour effects. When it was unveiled to the public 1999, some critics were horrified at the colours and facial shapes. “There may now be a serious misrepresentation of Leonardo’s final design”, said one; “a distinctly mongrel work showing alarmingly little original paint and very much alien ‘compensatory‘ and ‘reintegrating‘ new paint”, said another.
A 1520 copy is shown below to illustrate the differences.
