The Monmouth inquirer., 1906-08-23
"THE LAST SUPERB
leonardo da vincf's Famous Paint
ing Threatened with Ruin.


ing Threatened with Ruin.
The people of Italy and indeed art
lovers of the entire world are dis
tressed by information that Leonardo
da vinci's famous painting. The Last
Supper" on the walls of the refectory
of the old Dominican cloister of Santa
Marie della Grazia, in Milan. threat
ems to all into complete ruin.
This painting is over 400 years old.
Fixed TO the monastery walls, it has
had triumphant procession through
the world, not even excelled by the
sculptures of Michael Angelo or re-
productions of Raphael's Madonnas.
Copied millions of times in all sorts
of shapes, from the humblest wood
cut to the grandest steel engraving,
it is found in the hut of the backwoods
and the gallery of the palace.
Such a great result, moreover, has
been accomplished, Notwithstanding
that. apart from what it has of mag
nifcence of general composition, the
picture is really almost a ruin in
strict art sense. Only traces remain
here and there of Leonardo's sublime
handiwork. From its very locality and
through the artists own fault it bore
within itself the kernel of it's own de-
struction.
Like most great artists, he loved to
experiment In painting 'The Last
Supper, instead of depending on
recognized fresco methods or material,
he painted into the wall coating with
oil. AS consequence there was not
a chemical blending with the mortar
base, but only a mechanical connec-
tion.
Raphael painted two allegorical fig
ures in this style in the Vatican which
are still well preserved, apart from
a slight chipping. Sebastiano del
Piomba also painted his ''Scourging Of
Christ" with oil on the walls of the
Church of San Pietro.
The story of the gradual decay of 1.-THE
Last Supper" began in the sixteenth
century. Armenini. who saw it fifty
years after its completion. taking the
latter period as 1928, speaks Of it
as already half destroyed" 1t APP
pears that the wall on which the pic
ture had been painted was subject to
almost every possible deteriorating in
fiuence. One of the worst of these
was the vapor arising from the kitchen
of the cloister. Besides, the refectory
was damp place.
Then came injuries from the hand of
man In the seventeenth century the
monks, who had found the entrance
to their dining room not sufficiently
imposing, broke wide door through
the wall This was cut so high that
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 restor-
ing 1.-THE Last Supper to its earliest
freshness and grandeur. He fooled the
monks and painted the subject over
from top to bottom. Other overpaint-
ings followed, some of them even in
water colors.
During the Napoleonic wars, and in
defiance of his express commands, the
refectory was used as stable, hay
NOW and a prison. An inundation in
1900 overlooked the room and turned
1t into kind of swamp. Only then
did the Milanese awake to the con-
seriousness that they must do some
thing to preserve ''The Last Supper"
even in its comparative state of ruin.
Everything possible was done during
the, past century to stop its taking off,
and these efforts are being kept up.
The restoration or protection achieved
by the painter Barezzi in 1856 won the
heartiest approval of the commission,
but while it lessened the ravages of
destruction it did not check them.
Two years ago the restorer, Caven-
aghi, suggested that the loosening
color surface be fixed with colorless
glue, a work that would require in
finite care and patience. The prelimi-
nary experiments were successful, and
1t is possible that if the idea were
adopted it might effectively preserve
'"The, Last Supper" in at least. it's pres
ent condition for many years.-Phila-
delphia North American.