• Included in the Posts About Art.
• This odd shape is the top of a doorway that was cut through the wall where one of the most famous paintings on the face of the earth is located.

Martin Winfree

December 4, 2012

Sometimes I wish I could just spend all day long posting on Facebook wild thoughts that have been rattling around in my head. Maybe that is what retirement feels like. But for this one, I simply cannot wait any longer.
I just read a review of an account of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of The Lord’s Supper, one of the most famous paintings in the world. It is situated in a convent in Milan, Italy, and was painted using a technique that almost immediately failed. Close-up’s of the actual painting are incredibly marred and difficult to discern. Here is a copy of the actual painting without all the usual retouches that you normally see:

What you might notice about photographs of this painting is that they rarely show anything below the table; the painting actually extends well below the table in its entirety. You also have no doubt seen this odd shape beneath the part where Jesus Himself is seated. What you might not realize is what this shape is: It is the top of a doorway that was cut through the wall where one of the most famous paintings on the face of the earth is located, apparently because the convent thought they needed a new door there. Not only does it cut through the painting at all, but it actually is located where the Legs and Feet of Jesus Christ would have been visible were it not for this door. Words fail me when I think of this fact.