03 — ARTWORK
Last Supper
- MEDIUM
- Wood, 172 x 164 cm
- TYPE
- Religious
PALETTE
HOVER OR TAP A SWATCH FOR NAME, SHARE AND HEX. SAMPLED FROM THE IMAGE — INDICATIVE, NOT A PIGMENT ANALYSIS.
THIS REPRODUCTION DOWNLOAD THE FULL FILE ↓
- FILE
- 842 × 903 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
Last SupperChrist's last meal with His disciples before His arrest and trial; the rite of communion is based on this. One of most famous depictions of the event is a fresco painted by Leonardo da Vinci. c. 1470 Wood, 172 x 164 cm Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona
This Last Supper is a late work by Jaume Huguet whose art is highly characteristic of the period. In these late works the master heightened the effect of splendour by using embossed metal plates. Almost four centuries had passed since the painter of Seo de Urgell produced his altar panelTerm in painting for a support of wood, metal, or other rigid substance, as distinct from canvas. Until the adoption of canvas in the 15th century nearly all the movable paintings of Europe were executed on wood, and even up to the beginning of the 17th century it is probable that as much painting was done on the one support as on the other. Painters who worked on a small scale often used copper panels (Elsheimer is a leading example), and in the colonial art of South America copper and tin and even lead and zinc were used. On a larger scale, slate has occasionally been used as a support, notably by Rubens for his altarpiece for Sta Maria in Vallicella (the Chiesa Nuova) in Rome; the picture he originally painted was said to reflect the light unpleasantly and slate was used for the replacement to produce a more matt finish. For wood panels the Italian masters of the Renaissance preferred white poplar, while oak was the most common wood used in northern Europe. Many other types were used, however; analysis of the contents of art galleries has yielded a long list, including beech, cedar, chestnut, fir, larch, linden, mahogany, olive, and walnut. In the 20th century cedar, teak, and dark walnut are favourites, and modern painters have also used plywood, fibre-board, and other synthetic materials as supports.. Now we have a representation of Christ not on his throne but at table with his disciples: Christ is still the central figure in the composition but this is no longer emphasized by the halo or a difference in size; the means are now purely pictorial - a cloak darker in hue than those of the disciples, the eyes looking straight at the spectator, and the movement of the disciples as they lean towards him. Huguet certainly did not achieve the unity seen in Leonardo's great work, but this painting does show that he was striving to group his figures effectively. Renaissance paintings revealing a knowledge of perspectiveThe method of representing three-dimensional objects on a flat surface. Perspective gives a picture a sense of depth. The most important form of perspective in the Renaissance was linear perspective (first formulated by the architect Brunelleschi in the early 15th century), in which the real or suggested lines of objects converge on a vanishing point on the horizon, often in the middle of the composition (centralized perspective). The first artist to make a systematic use of linear perspective was Masaccio, and its principles were set out by the architect Alberti in a book published in 1436. The use of linear perspective had a profound effect on the development of Western art and remained unchallenged until the 20th century. had not yet reached Huguet's workshop, but he already shows a Renaissance enjoyment of the small things of life: the bread and the glass of wine on the table are not merely symbolic, they constitute a still-life. There is a similar enjoyment in his representations of the cat, the bird, the apple on the table and the mosaic pattern of the floor.
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-r886bbee9dd1f15,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Last Supper by HUGUET, Jaume},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-09},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/huguet-jaume-rd427057b165eac/last-supper-r886bbee9dd1f15},
urldate = {2026-09-09},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-09. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
