Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1906-09-08
1.-THE LAST SUPPER"
Leonard" dn Ninci'S Famous Paint
ing Thrcutcnrd With Ruin.

ing Threatened Win Nutn.
The people of italy aud indeed art
lovers Of the entire world are dis
lrcsscd hy information that Leonardo
da Nincls famous painting. The Last
supper on the walls at the rcfrctory
OF the old Dominican cloister Of Santa
Marie della GraZla. IA Milan threat
ems To TALL into complete ruin.
Tins painting i over luo years old.
FIXED to the monastery walls, il has
tad a triumphant procession through
.hc world not even eXcciied 10y the
iculpiurps OF Michael Au4clo or re-
productions of Rapha"ls Madonnas.
TOPPED millions oi times ia All sorts
of shapes from the humblcSt wood
cut to the grandest steel cn-rnyi"g.
IL is found IN Tire hut of the backwoods
ami the gallery Of tie palace
such great result, moreover. has
been accomplished. Notwithstanding.
that. apart from what It has of mag
nilicencc of general composition, the
picture j. really almost ruin in Il
strict art sense only traces remain
here and there ut l.eonurdo's sublime
haudiwork From its very locality aud
through The artists own fault il bore
within Itself the kernel of its own de
structiom
Like most great artists. he loved 10
experiment Ia painting The Last
supper. instead of depending on
recognized frcSco methods or material.
he painted into the wall coating with
oil ~ u consequence there was not
chemical blending with the mortar
base. but only mechanical connec-
ton.
Raphael painted two allegorical liz
urcS in this style IN the Vatican which
are stll well preserved apart from
>l.ght chppu. Schastiano del
Piomba also painted his "Scourgins Of
Christ" with oil OH The walls Of the
church al san rictro
The story Of the gradual decay of The
Last supper hv-an in the sixteenth
century Armcnni who saw il fifty
years after It's compilations taking the
latter period as ll17-aS. speaks Of il
as aires ~ half destroyed" II ap
pears that the wall on which the pie
turc had hccn painted was subject e.
almost every possible dct"riorating ia
flucncc .Ouc of the worst OF these
was the vapor arising from the Kitchen
Of the cloi>tcr Besides the refractory
was u damp place.
Then camc injuries from the hand of
man In III, seventeenth century the
monks. who had found the entrance
TO their dining room not sufficiently
imposing. broke n wide door through
the feet of Christ and several of the
apostles were torn away
In the eighteenth century a painter
named Michael Angelo Bellotti claimed
he possessed a secret means of rcStor-
ing "'fh" Last supper" to lis earliest
freshness and grandeur He fooled the
monks ana painted III" subject over
from top 10 bottom. Other ovcrpaint
lngs followed. some OF them even In
water cuiors.
During the Napolconc wars, ana In
defiance OF his express commands the
rcfcctory was used as Il stable, II hay
NOV and a prison. I'm inundatiOu in
1900 overlooked the room ANA turned
II into Kind of swamp only then
did the Nlilancse awake To the con
sciousncss That they must do some
thin. To preserve The Last Supper.
even In its comparative state OF ruin.
Everything possible was done during
the past century TO stop its flaking of
and these efforts are being kept up
The restoration or protection achieved
by the painter Barczzi in 1896 Won the
hcar,icst approval Of the commission
hut while II lcsSencd the ravages OF
destruction il did not check them
Two wears ago the rcstorcr Caven
aghi. suggested that the looseulnp
color surface lac fixed with Il colorlcss
glue. u work that wOnld require in
finite care und patience The prclimi
nary experiments were successful. and
it is possible that A the idea were
adopted it might effectively preserve
The Last supper" m at least its pres
ent condition for many years. lhila
dolphin North American