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Essay Instructions: Unit Overview

As the Quattrocento continued, wealthy Florentine citizens gained international renown for their art patronage, and Florentine artists emerged as some of the most technically and intellectually sophisticated artists in Europe. These mid-century artists continued to experiment with the use of naturalism balanced with idealism, an interest in classicism, and the use of art for both religious and political propaganda. These ideals then spread from Florence to other major centers in central Italy, including Urbino and Rome.

Part Two Required Work

In a five page paper, please trace the compositional, stylistic and symbolic development of the story of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. What makes Leonardo’s work unique? You may cite earlier examples, such as those by Andrea del Castagno or Domenico Ghirlandaio in your answer. You should also consult additional readings outside your textbook for this answer.

Web sites include: Last Suppers in Florence for information organized by Mario Carniani, and “In Italy Online.” See also the ARCA.NET section on Florence.

Internet Resources

Web Gallery of Art guided Web tour
Christus Rex et Redemptor Mundi

Essay Instructions: This is to be a paper on the Leonardo De Vinci painting The Last Supper. Some things to be considered are: Name of subject, date work created, name of artist, place of work for artists career, condition of work, the function of work, style and relation to period style, historical and cultural context, materials and dimensions, content, use of symbols or decoration, relation of work to other similar works, special significance.
When writing of a painting in general some things to be considered are: Materials i.e. fresco, tempera oil, texture, light, color, setting or background, space, definition of forms i.e. forms are defined by a contour line: subtle or bold. design, composition: the arrangement of forms so that they are lined up across the picture plane, they can be enclosed in a stable geometric for or unstable. Anatomy: Knowledgeable, realistic, naturalistic, simplified, or summary idealiized accoding to a canon or stylistic convention distorted for expressive or decorative reasons i.e elongated or spiritualized, influenced by earlier styles or paintings.

Essay Instructions: The paper is on The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci as a piece of Renaissance art.

The paper should have three in-text citations for every source.

Essay Instructions: Read Ross King's Leonardo and The Last Supper and answer each questions. Your answers ONLY need to be more than three pages long.


1. Make a broad outline and summary for each of the three categories: political background of Sforza’s Milan; Leonardo’s life, training, and interests; The Last Supper

2. What kind of a man was Leonardo? What was his training? What were his interests? His goals as an artist? His problems as an artist?

3. Who was Lodovico Sforza and what were his motivations for the following? And what were the results of each action?
a. Bringing the French into Italy
b. Patronizing Leonardo’s equestrian statute
c. Having Leonardo paint The Last Supper and other paintings at Santa Maria delle Grazie

4. When Leonardo painted The Last Supper, he was following in a long tradition. What were the biblical foundations for this tradition? Describe at least three other Cenacolas. Describe the principal groupings in Leonardo’s painting and explain how the conformed to or departed from the tradition.

5. Describe how frescoes were usually painted and then explain how Leonardo prepared for his painting. How did he prepare the wall? His paints?

6. In Leonardo’s finished painting, describe how he used each of the following.
a. Perspective
b. Proportion
c. Attention to naturalistic detail

7. Leonardo made choices in how he represented Christ and the Apostles in terms of both real-life models and in terms of characteristics and features he gave them. Describe some of these choices, but especially focus on Jesus, John, and Judas.

8. King says that Leonardo’s Last Supper is regarded as a landmark painting? What reasons does King give?