Milan Apartments specializes in furnished Milan apartments located
in Central Milan, Italy.
Welcome to your Milan home! Maintained with care by the staff of
Milan Apartments, you will stay in perfectly clean, charming, convenient
and quiet apartments in Milan, Italy.
LEONARDO DA VINCI'S LAST SUPPER IN MILAN
In the refectory of the Dominican convent adjoining the church of
Santa Maria delle Grazie, houses one of the world's most celebrated
works: Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper". This famous painting is
considered one of the most significant art creations worldwide and
attracts numberless visitors from even the remotest corners of the
earth. The painting shows Jesus announcing to his twelve Apostles that
one of them was going to betray him.
Painted between 1494 and 1498 under the rule of Ludovico il Moro,
Leonardo abandoning the traditional method of fresco painting, depicted
the scene "a secco" on the wall of the refectory. Upon completion
however, it was documented that this technique and environmental factors
had contributed to the eventual deterioration of the fresco, that has
undergone numerous restorations. The most recent being 1999, where
various scientific methods were employed to restore the original colours
and where possible to remove the traces of paint applied from previous
attempts to restore the fresco. Extensive measures have been implemented
to protect the fresco from further exposure. To ensure that the fresco
be kept at room temperature, since restoration the visitor intake has
been restricted to a group of 25 admitted every 15 minutes.
The Last Supper was painted in the ambit of the extensive artistic and
cultural revival that from 1490 involved Milan, under the patronage of
Ludovico Sforza - "il Moro". The Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie was
fully involved and in 1495, when Donato Montorfano was completing his
Crucifixion for the Refectory, Leonardo was commissioned by the Duke to
decorate the facing wall with a Last Supper. The commission is
documented by the coats of arms that appear within plant garlands in the
four lunettes above the "Supper" and are a reminder of the names of
Ludovico, Beatrice and their children.
The Last Supper was quite slow in evolving despite the urgings of
Ludovico Sforza and the prior. It actually took Leonardo about four
years (1494-1498) with the dry or tempera technique he had decided to
use, as if it had been a great tablet (4.60x8.80m). First of all he
decided not to apply the consolidated fresco technique, which offered
assurances for conservation, but was time-consuming to spread. What
Leonardo required was the utmost freedom during the executive stage in
order to correct, modify and achieve special color effects. Moreover,
the fresco technique was irreconcilable with his bizarre temperament
that led him to alternate periods of intense activity with others of
total rest, as related by Matteo Bandello, who was a guest of the
convent fathers and often saw Leonardo at work.
Although The Last Supper was a traditional theme used to decorate
convent refectories, especially in Florence (memorable are those by
Taddeo Gaddi, Beato Angelico, Andrea del Castagno and Ghirlandaio),
Leonardo presented the subject in a completely innovative form. Not only
did he make drastic modifications to the layout of the scene, but also
the true novelty was the astounding realism with which he recounted this
episode from the Gospels.
Address: Piazza Santa Maria delle Grazie nr. 2, Corso Magenta, Milan
How to arrive by Tube: red line stopping at Conciliazione or green line stopping at Cadorna.
Information on
www.cenacolovinciano.it or www.cenacolovinciano.org.
Milan Apartments web site lists a considerable number of furnished Milan
apartments.
The apartments include serviced apartments, hotel
apartments, serviced private residences - all fully equipped for short
stays from one day to several months. The price will always include
kitchen equipment etc to make it easy just to move in. Our clients
include companies, business people, travellers and holiday makers of all
sorts. We live in Milan and take care to list only the most reliable and
trusted apartment providers. Because they are self-catering, Milan
apartments can provide better value than a hotel. You don't need to eat
out all the time, you'll have a comfortable living room, and within
limits, you can accommodate more people. You don't need to spend money
on hotel facilities that you don't use.
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