If we look at theLast Supper by Leonardo da Vinci – also known by the name of Cenaclepainted between 1494 and 1498 and preserved in the sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan – Jesus he doesn’t have feet. It may seem like a negligible detail, but the feet are an element of great interest in Christian iconography because they are Very symbolic. Those of the apostles are often depicted while they are receiving a “washing”, that is, the symbolic washing that Jesus does to them the last time they meet, or those of Jesus himself are depicted pierced by nails and bloody, at the moment of his sacrifice. But those of Jesus are not seen at all. And yet we are talking about one of the most famous paintings depicting Jesus in the world, and one of the most important murals ever.
So what happened to Jesus’ feet in the Cenacle?
The Last Supper – which according to the first modern art historian, Giorgio Vasari, was a “beautiful and marvelous thing” – represents one of the final moments in the life of Jesus, the farewell from his 12 apostles, before the final sacrifice, in a great dinner on the occasion of the Jewish Passover. This great work was commissioned by Ludovico il Morolord of Milan, in the refectory of the convent adjacent to the Sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Graziein Milan, and is considered by many to be the most complete testimony of the multifaceted genius of Vinci, and the pinnacle of his studies on light, the body, movements and states of mind. But if Leonardo was so good, how could he omit the feet of Christ?
There are two reasons for this. The first is of a practical nature: the feet were cut off, together with the legs, in 1652, to make space for a door in the refectory of Santa Maria Delle Grazie, where the work is still visible today. However, there could be a second reason: in addition to the practical concerns of the monks, who were trying to improve access to the dining room, there could have been the desire to hide that small part of the work because of the conditions in which he found himself.
The mural painting demonstrates a great mastery of linear perspective by the painter from Vinci, but the application of a painting technique invented by Leonardo commissioned by the Duke of Milan himself. Unlike the custom of the time, Leonardo did not create a “fresco” (i.e. a technique in which pigments, diluted with water, are applied to fresh plaster), but a wall painting, that is, he fixed tempera and oil directly to the wall pre-treated with a plaster-based support.
Given the novelty, there was not much familiarity with the duration of this technique. In fact, immediately after the completion of the work in 1498, the paint began to flake and fall off. Part of the problem may have been the steam from the convent kitchen, which, along with the soot from the candles, would have accelerated the deterioration. Imagine, the damage was so considerable that Vasari himself would have called it “a mess of stains”. These problems were followed by numerous restoration attempts over the following centuries, not always successful. So it would have been better to cover one of the most ruined parts anyway.
But if we wanted to know what do these famous feet look likehow could we imagine them? Fortunately, in those years and in the following ones, many artists had made copies on canvas of the Last Supper. In one of these, attributed to the artists Giampietrino and Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio (now preserved at the Royal Academy of Arts in London), the feet of Jesus also appear: They are shod and placed in a pose that might suggest his future crucifixion..
