On the eve of his arrest, Christ took his last meal with his apostles. Since on the occasion he declared that the wine they were consuming represented his blood and the bread his body, the event marks the institution of the Eucharist as a holy sacrament. It was also the moment when Christ announced to his disciples that one of them would betray him. In depictions of the scene, Judas, the one to give up Christ to the Roman authorities, is usually isolated from the rest of the figures. In Andrea del Castagno's Last Supper in the refectory of Sant' Apollonia, Florence (1447), Domenico del Ghirlandaio's in the refectory of the Church of Ognissanti, Florence (1480), and Tintoretto's at San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice (1592-1594), Judas is placed on the opposite side of the table, while in Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper (1497-1498) at Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan he clutches the money bag containing the 30 pieces of silver he was paid for his betrayal. Dirk Bouts (1464-1467; Lou-vain, Church of St. Pierre) chose to concentrate on the solemnity of the event rather than Judas' duplicity. Other Last Suppers include the versions by Pieter Coecke (1531; Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts) and Francisco Ribalta (1606), this last painted for the College of Corpus Christi in Valencia, Spain.
See also Last Supper, Refectory, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan; Last Supper, San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice.
Historical dictionary of Renaissance art. Lilian H. Zirpolo. 2008.