Where: Milan, Italy
When: March 25, 2012
With who: Dad and friends
On my first full day in Milan, it was straight to business - 8:30am reservation to see The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci.
The painting is actually on the wall of a church, the Santa Maria delle Grazie. The church was built in 1469 as a convent and has since had quite the tumultuous history. Most notably, the whole thing was nearly destroyed during a bomb raid in World War II. While most of its walls came down, the one holding the painting stayed standing.
Due to the high volume of visitors, you have to make reservations well in advance. Then, you're only allowed 15 minutes to see it.
The painting is incredibly delicate, mostly due to a bad call on da Vinci's part. Normally, paintings during the Renaissance were done as "frescos". This means you apply the paint directly onto wet plaster on a wall so that when the plaster dries, the colors are sealed in and last for years. Instead, Leonardo painted directly onto the stone walls of the church. Within a few years of its completion, it started flaking away. Add in the bombing of WWII and that Napoleon's troops used the painting for target practice in the 1800s, it's shocking it's lasted until now.
Countless restorations have been done to attempt to preserve the painting. Unfortunately, not all of them have been of the highest caliber and for awhile, modern experts weren't sure it still looked anything like the original painting. The last big restoration took 20 years and was completed in 1999. They think they've got it right now. Now, they take every precaution available to preserve it. There are two vacuum-sealed rooms you have to enter before you can get inside the church.
Not surprisingly, you can't take pictures of the painting, so I've included one on the internet for now. It's hard to show just how massive this thing is.
We sat on rows of benches in the cool, dark church staring up at the painting while our tour guide gave us the history. The painting is supposed to capture the moment Jesus tells the apostles that one of them will betray him and their subsequent reactions. There's all kinds of perspective things going on (Jesus' head is the vanishing point of all perspective lines) and the number "3" is featured in various ways. My favorite factoid was that apparently the doorway under Jesus was built years later, meaning someone completely hacked his feet off.
After 15 minutes, like clockwork, an announcement is made to move it along and get out. You can see the next tour group gearing up to enter, and you're herded out the other end of the church. You find yourself walking out backwards to get your last glimpse. Two more vacuum sealed rooms later, you are plopped out in the gift shop. Convenient.
Definitely a fantastic work of art. I'm glad it's survived bombs, guns, bad restorations and poor planning, and still looks like a work of art.
For the rest of my trip, click here.
When: March 25, 2012
With who: Dad and friends
On my first full day in Milan, it was straight to business - 8:30am reservation to see The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci.
The painting is actually on the wall of a church, the Santa Maria delle Grazie. The church was built in 1469 as a convent and has since had quite the tumultuous history. Most notably, the whole thing was nearly destroyed during a bomb raid in World War II. While most of its walls came down, the one holding the painting stayed standing.
Here is the front entrance to the site.
The painting is incredibly delicate, mostly due to a bad call on da Vinci's part. Normally, paintings during the Renaissance were done as "frescos". This means you apply the paint directly onto wet plaster on a wall so that when the plaster dries, the colors are sealed in and last for years. Instead, Leonardo painted directly onto the stone walls of the church. Within a few years of its completion, it started flaking away. Add in the bombing of WWII and that Napoleon's troops used the painting for target practice in the 1800s, it's shocking it's lasted until now.
Countless restorations have been done to attempt to preserve the painting. Unfortunately, not all of them have been of the highest caliber and for awhile, modern experts weren't sure it still looked anything like the original painting. The last big restoration took 20 years and was completed in 1999. They think they've got it right now. Now, they take every precaution available to preserve it. There are two vacuum-sealed rooms you have to enter before you can get inside the church.
Not surprisingly, you can't take pictures of the painting, so I've included one on the internet for now. It's hard to show just how massive this thing is.
We sat on rows of benches in the cool, dark church staring up at the painting while our tour guide gave us the history. The painting is supposed to capture the moment Jesus tells the apostles that one of them will betray him and their subsequent reactions. There's all kinds of perspective things going on (Jesus' head is the vanishing point of all perspective lines) and the number "3" is featured in various ways. My favorite factoid was that apparently the doorway under Jesus was built years later, meaning someone completely hacked his feet off.
After 15 minutes, like clockwork, an announcement is made to move it along and get out. You can see the next tour group gearing up to enter, and you're herded out the other end of the church. You find yourself walking out backwards to get your last glimpse. Two more vacuum sealed rooms later, you are plopped out in the gift shop. Convenient.
Definitely a fantastic work of art. I'm glad it's survived bombs, guns, bad restorations and poor planning, and still looks like a work of art.
For the rest of my trip, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment