The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1900-04-26
sentence is pronounced. "De.

| despair, rage, tne COnulCI between
hope and fear are everywhere visible.
They are not the emotions of Chris
tians who have sinned and have been
shut out from all hope of salvation,
Titans and Giants as thev are hurled
by Zeus, the thunder, down to the bot
tomless abyss. Around these are
throngs of angels bearing in their
hands the instruments of martyrdom
and crying aloud for vengeance: saints
congregating around the throne to
demand justice, and the struggling of
the cursed with the fiends of dark.
ness become contest between ath
letes for life and death. Even the
grim ferry-man in his boat below, who
beats back with his oars the wretches
who beg to be taken in, is quite in
harmony with the merciless tone
which pervades the whole piece.
Finally to show that all hope of mer-
cy is lost the Virgin Mother averts
her countenance at her Sons side.
This great painting, as well as all the
paintings in this chapel, are in a much
better state of preservation than the
renowned Last Supper by Leonardo De
Vinci.
About the year of 1882 Leonardo
was; summoned to the court of Lodo-
vici Sforza at Milan where he re-
mained till 1499. In the meantime he
devoted his powers to two great ar
tistic undertakings, one of which is
totally destroyed, and the other, the
Last Supper, is in the refractory at
S. Marie dele Grazia, a work, the
shameful destruction of which. will
ever be lamented.
The work has been damaged and
ruined in many ways, as by the flooding
of the low-lying hall by the stupidity
of the Domicians, who, to enlarge the
door of the refractory, cut off the legs
of the figure of Christ and the disci-
Piles near him. When, at the close of
the last century during the wars of
Italy, the convent of Santa Maria
was converted into cavalry barracks
and the refractory into a store-room
for fodder, we can imagine the i'll
treatment of the wonderful work of
art.
But what contributed more than all
these causes to it's destruction was
the masters unfortunate idea of paint
ing his work in oil colors upon the
wall. Finally to complete the ruin of
the worst abused of all wonders of
/. art, two butchers, Belotti and Magza
must commit the outrage of entirely
repainting the grandest work of lie.
onardo.
Only in very recent times has the
efforts to carefully remove these ad.
| ditions proved successful, and now, af.
, ter all the i'll treatment it.has suf.
fered, so imperishable is the brilliancy
of its former beauty that the i'm
pressions made by the original, fan
surpasses those produced by Raphael's
, admirable engravings.
Everyone is acquainted with the
? Last Supper from engravings, ant
, with the dignity of the divine Teach
t er and Master and the Apostles seated
on either side of him. But Leonardo
, was not content with a calm repre-
. sentation of the scene of the Las
, Supper as it so often has been por
: trayed before, but he chose as hi
"a Il
Christ uttered the prophetic words
: "One of you shall betray Me-" The1
t the artist breaks all tradition, cast
: ing burning spark into the very
: midst of the assembled figures ant
: boldly ventures to convert into a pro
I. found dramatic scene the still ant
l mournful solemnity of Christ's feast O.
2 love.
8 None but such master as Leonard,
: could preserve the most faultless sym
metry and proportion amid that wilt
!, tumult of emotion, those of sadness
= grief, painful uncertainty, anger, in
s dignation and even horror. None bu
d such one, with thorough knowledg,
e of the human heart could weave ou
e the undivided characters of the Apos
ties, the special expressions whicl
8 fitted each, and seated in their midst
e portray the Divine Master, clothe,
8 in wondrous majesty, with a sligh
t shadow of distress on his feature an,
v an impression of entire submissive
a ness.
The very composition of this piece
J. with two groups of three Apostle
d each on either side of the Divine Mas
8 ter, this more etfectually maxim,
s Christ the dominant figure, is in itsel
h one OF the most mastery conception
j. of the artistic mind.
r These are among the greatest,
|, not the greatest, of the worlds pict
o ures, but they are only three of tn
+ many masterpieces of which we ar
r proud to boast.
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