The Ghost of a Masterpiece

Disclaimer:  I am no longer in Milan but I wrote the posts each day.  Feel free to ask questions and comment as if I were still in Italy.

Even damaged as it is Leonardo's Last Supper is astoundingly beautiful and compelling.  Seeing it was heart breaking.  Although I have seen it in reproduction over and over, when I looked up at the refectory wall at Santa Maria delle Grazie I nearly burst into tears.
Open another tab and look up the Mona Lisa.  You can probably find it on google images.  Go ahead.  I'll wait.  (hums)
So you found it?  Note the gentle changes of light and shade that create such a naturalistic image and the wonderful expression.  Do you see the color?  The detail?  The subtlety?  That's Leonardo, and no one--ever--EVER--has done it better.  Soak in its beauty.
Now search the Last Supper.  Imagine it the way Leonardo conceived--executed like the Mona Lisa with all its detail with that wonderful chiaroscuro.   He did not use the usual buon or wet fresco technique because that would have meant rapid painting and no revision.  He wanted to contemplate, edit, smooth, and create an unprecedented depth of expression.  So he used tempura on the wall, but within a few years the work began to flake.
The richness of the color and most of the detail he painted is gone and gone forever.  Nevertheless, the power is still there to see.  "One of you will betray me," the statement from the central figure of Christ ripples out.  The apostles are grouped symmetrically in four groups of three each and two groups on each side.  Each man has his own individual reaction of astonishment, bewilderment, despair.  Philip is the best preserved, his hands poignantly gesturing towards his breast with the question burning eleven of the twelve's mind.  "Is it I, Lord?  Is it I?"  Only Judas--his face in darkness and his hand clutching the bag holding the thirty pieces of silver--knows the truth.
One of the things that struck me seeing it in person was the beauty and harmony of the colors even as faded as they are. So when you come and see it--and you MUST!--you will see a wonderful work full of psychological depth, emotion and beauty most of all, but it will be a mere ghost of the artist's intention.
Each session is limited to twenty people, and we had to pass through a series of air locks.  Visits last fifteen minutes, and the time passed quickly.  I had a hard time tearing my eyes away.
And by the way . . . Please do not bother me with the Da Vinci Code.  Yes, John is beardless and swooning.  It is a convention of representation.  It's the apostle John.  Seriously.  Not anyone else.
And I discovered that if you weren't able to reserve a viewing, there is a scalper on site.  I don't know how much she charges but she does offer a last chance for those not able to reserve.
I spent the rest of the day wandering around looking for chances to stop merely licking windows and buy some things.  I returned to Amorino for my favorite flavors:  Amarena, Nicciola, and some chocolate from Ecuador that was So Good it nearly Killed Me.
For dinner I had some salad and some pasta with herbs washed down with the last of the Lambrusco.
Ciao!