Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Also on display is “The Last Supper: Tableau Vivant”, a nine-minute film on the Last Supper screened as a preview for Italy

Milan, October 7 2019 – “Leonardo's Last Supper for King Francis I, a masterpiece in gold and silk” is the title of the exhibition whose absolute protagonist is the gigantic tapestry (513 x 910 cm) commissioned by King Francis I to be able to “transport” into France the enchantment of the Last Supper, the famous painting created by Leonardo between 1497 and 1499 in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie.

Promoted by the Municipality of Milan | Culture and the Royal Palace, in collaboration with the Vatican Museums, the exhibition is curated by Pietro Marani, one of the world's leading experts on Leonardo da Vinci and his work, and is set up in the Sala delle Cariatidi by 8 October to 17 November 2019, with free admission. The exhibition is part of the "Milan and Leonardo 500" program, promoted and coordinated by the Municipality of Milan.

The splendid tapestry which faithfully reproduces the Last Supper on a 1:1 scale was commissioned by Francis I, the king who hosted Leonardo in Amboise until the end of his days after the defeat of Louis the Moor and the conquest of Milan by the French, and by Louise of Savoy, as also demonstrated by the insignia present in the upper part of the work. The Last Supper was in fact created by Leonardo with a technique that made it impossible to detach from the wall, therefore copying it was the only way to be able to conserve and transport it outside Milan, thus satisfying the needs of the French court. The tapestry was probably woven between 1516 and 1525, while Leonardo was already in Amboise (where he died in 1519), so it can be hypothesized that at least the preparatory cartoon was executed under the supervision of the Master. However, it is one of the very first copies of Leonardo's masterpiece.

Donated as early as 1533 by Francis I to Pope Clement VII, the tapestry of the Last Supper quickly returned to Italy, and since then it has never left the Vatican Museums. On the occasion of the celebrations for the 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death, the Vatican Museums extraordinarily accepted the loan request from the Royal Palace on condition that the tapestry underwent careful restoration. The opportunity was immediately welcomed by the Municipality of Milan which, together with the Clos Lucé Castle in Amboise, financed the restoration, which lasted almost two years.  

After being restored and finally studied in its executive and stylistic particularities by a team of restorers, the tapestry was exhibited for the first time in the Clos Lucé Castle, from June to September 2019, arriving today in the Hall of Caryatids in Palazzo Reale, a few hundred meters from the original masterpiece.

In the Hall of Caryatids, the tapestry of the Vatican Museums is placed in close dialogue with two other tapestries of the "Mesi" by Bramantino (Bergamo, circa 1465 - Milan, 1530), which come from the collections of the Castello Sforzesco in Milan and were woven in Vigevano between 1503 and 1509. From the comparison it is possible to identify immediate analogies between the tapestries of the "Months" and that of the Last Supper - such as the centralized perspective setting - which demonstrate how the echoes of the Last Supper could also be propagated through a profane cycle, as well as suggesting the hypothesis that Bramantino was the author of the preparatory cartoon for the Cenacolo tapestry. 

The exhibition also displays – through medals, bas-reliefs and paintings – the portraits of the kings of France, from Charles VIII to Francis I. A series of sixteenth-century engravings by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau (1576-1579) also shows the castles of Blois, Amboise and Chambord where it is possible that the Cenacle tapestry was exhibited before 1533 when it was donated by Francis I to Pope Clement VII.

The exhibition catalog is published by Skira.

Furthermore, in the Sala delle Cariatidi, the Last Supper comes to life in "The Last Supper: Tableau Vivant", a nine-minute cinematographic work created and filmed by Armondo Linus Acosta, with Oscar winners Vittorio Storaro and Dante Ferretti, the latter with Francesca Lo Schiavo. Legendary artists of contemporary cinema have therefore come together to recreate the grandeur and spirit of the original painting, a sign that, after 500 years, Leonardo's masterpiece continues to seduce even the most creative minds.

Acosta's living painting is a work that combines art with theater thanks to a fascinating technique that allows for an unprecedented vision, capable of recreating the movements and atmosphere of one of the most important scenes preserved in the memory of humanity. The short, screened as a preview for Italy, is produced by The Academy of Film & the Arts in collaboration with Crescentera Production.

Free entry

Opening hours 
Monday 14.30pm_19.30pm
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday 9.30am_19.30pm 
Thursday and Saturday 9.30_22.30
Last admission one hour before closing

www.palazzorealemilano.it

Photo gallery