The Last Supper (Il Cenacolo) Sculpture

The Last Supper Barrett Ashley Johnson, Visual Artist (il Cenacolo) 2015 Following his 2013-2014 Judeo/Christian-themed paintings and sculptures, “The Ten Commandments” and “Pentateuch Cube”, the Artist had been planning a complex and substantial work on the theme of “The Last Supper”. Owing to the historical event depicted and the historic paintings of the event by Great Masters (daVinci, Giotto, Warhol, etc.), a project of this magnitude seemed daunting. To begin, the Artist wanted the painting to be—firstly—historically referential. In doing this, Christ is seen as the primary figure of the images in the work: the largest of the QR Codes and the only image gilded in gold. Next, the Artist organized the Apostles in four groups of three, with the placement of the individuals within each group exactly as appears in the daVinci model. Another historically-referential aspect of the painting/sculpture is a square layout, more akin to the Giotto model rather than the daVinci. This square layout fits more closely—geometrically—to the square QR Codes and square panels upon which the entire work is built. Probably the most important single element of the painting is the “Jesus Christ” QR Code image panel. Gilded in 24k double-gold leaf, the code is painted/sculpted using high-relief modeling paste. Beneath the gold gilding—and upon the sculpted modeling paste code itself—is an element used by the Artist to add a personal statement of the theme of Christ’s life: blood as symbol of sacrifice. Jesus’s message of the Last Supper was of events to come, beginning that very night. His own human demise was symbolized by wine poured, signifying the shedding of his blood upon the cross. The Artist added authenticity to this element of sacrifice by painting a pint of his own blood onto the Jesus Christ QR Code. The gold-gilding was applied after the blood was dried, and we are left with only small images of this dark red-brown coloring. One very important aspect of this process left an unexpected symbolic archetype: a small blood cross, just off-center the Jesus panel. The codes of the disciples are painted/sculpted, also, using modeling paste, then gilded in genuine silver leaf. To delay and/or inhibit oxidation/tarnishing, the Artist sealed the silver leaf with clear acrylic. The Artist has stated the ideal location for this painting would be in a like-designed church building, behind an altar.

Sculpture:Wood on Steel

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:60 W x 60 H x 4.5 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.