Blog One: Da Vinci's "The Last Supper"

I'm not exactly I'm supposed to be blogging about, but according to the syllabus I'm supposed to  talk about "issues related to this course", "more specifically responding to the lectures and incorporating research related to covered subjects". That being said, here's what I came up with in relation to the first lecture. Mind you, I am totally uneducated regarding ANY art history. So, I was thinking back to what stuck out to me in the first lecture, and my mind pretty much immediately gravitated toward one big name in art history that was mentioned in class, Leonardo Da Vinci. Obviously Da Vinci's name was one of the easier ones for me to remember, being an art history beginner as I am; but more importantly than his name, I meditated a bit on what I learned about how most Renaissance art depicted iconic religious imagery. I think I remembered that because I'm fascinated with the idea of depicting scenes from those bible stories my mom always read to me. Anyway, after pondering Renaissance art a while, I decided to do a scholarly search on Da Vinci. I only found several hundred articles on him and his work, (ha ha) but after reading a few of them, I decided to share this small one I came across in  'Yahoo News'. I've copied and pasted the relative part of the article below for your convenience, but the gist of it is that some British art expert is claiming that Da Vinci painted two hidden portraits of himself within his very famous painting entitled The Last Supper. I found this to be very interesting, as most would, but I wonder if it's really true. I mean, back in the 1980's, people were saying that some rock music had hidden messages within certain songs, but I always thought that was grossly incorrect information even if it was coming from church pastors and so forth. Likewise, I tend to think the same with the claim in this article and ones like it. However, I think I could be more easily convinced about the art than I ever could about the music, especially in light of the fact that the claim originates from an "art expert". I don't know for sure. Take a look at the painting and the article, and you be the judge.

Sincerely,

Nancy Maher

‘Last Supper’ painting may include two Leonardo da Vinci self-portraits

Could both of these "Last Supper" figures be da Vinci self-portraits? (Original image, Wikicommons)Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" may include two self-portraits of the legendary Renaissance artist, according to a British art expert.

Ross King says the nose, beards and hairstyles of two of the apostles standing to the right of Jesus in the portrait, Thomas and James the Lesser, match a portrait of Leonardo that was made several years after he created his masterpiece.

King told the Independent that while historians have long-suspected Leonardo placed images of himself in his works, no one has thoroughly researched "The Last Supper" for such evidence.

The 15-x-29-foot painting has been the source of endless speculation, though most of the analysis has focused on hidden meanings within the painting itself, such as how each of the apostles is reacting to the revelation that one of them has betrayed Jesus.

Still, King concedes that there is no definitive record of Leonardo's physical appearance but says the Greek physical characteristics were "rarities for an Italian man of that period," according to UPI.

Leonardo da Vinci scholar Charles Nicholl supports King's hypothesis, telling the Independent,"Of all the apostles that [Leonardo] would wish to be identified with, I think Doubting Thomas would be top of his list because Leonardo was a great believer in asking questions rather than accepting what people tell you."

I have copied and pasted the link to the original article below for your convenience.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/last-supper-painting-may-two-leonardo-da-vinci-201400070.html?_esi=1

Hello!!!!

Hi Professor! I think I set this up correctly. Please let me know if there is anything else I need to do for this blog.

Thanks,
Nancy Maher