Last Supper

Rubens painted this Last Supper between 1630 and 1631 as part of an altarpiece for the Church of St. Rombout in Mechelen. According to the sources, it was commissioned by Catherine Lescuyer as a memorial to her father. Jesus sits at the centre of the scene, dressed in red, with a yellow halo and his face tilted upwards. Six apostles flank him on each side, and he holds the bread with a cup of wine before him, so the scene combines the institution of the Eucharist with the revelation of the betrayal. Light falls most strongly on him and fades toward the edges, where the figures sink into shadow.

Judas, dressed in blue, turns towards the viewer and pulls away from the table. He holds his hand to his mouth and avoids the gaze of the others, giving him a restless expression. The other apostles no longer search for the traitor; they are all looking at Jesus. Rubens drew the composition from his former teacher Otto van Veen, but shifted the theme more firmly towards the Eucharist.

In the foreground a dog with a bone appears. This was a common motif in Northern European depictions, and it is probably just a pet, though it has been given symbolic meaning. J. Richard Judson reads it as greed or evil, as Judas's companion, drawing on John 13:27.

The painting followed an earlier attempt: in 1611 Rubens had planned a similar work, but his patrons withdrew at the last moment, perhaps because of the high price he asked. Rubens had earlier worked with Leonardo's Last Supper as a reference, and the engravings he often made after finishing his paintings were copied and collected, helping to build his reputation during his lifetime.

Painter

Peter Paul Rubens

Date

1631

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

304 × 250 cm

Museum

Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Genre

religious art

Depicts

dog, gaze towards the viewer, Jesus Christ, Twelve Apostles, Eucharist in the Catholic Church, man

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