The painting under analysis is The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. It was made in 15th century during the period of Renaissance. This painting became a starting point of this period for the art history.
Having all the advantages of the period in art during the time of creation of this masterpiece Leonardo da Vinci managed to add a lot of life and reality with the help of it to his painting. First of all he used a light-shadow play of colors and intensified the significance of certain parts of the fresco. There are two faces of John and Judah that are contrasting to each other like the brightest and the darkest faces in whole fresco. Da Vinci used lines all over his work and this made it so proportional and easy to understand the idea by those who watch it. All the elements of the fresco and all apostles’ figures lead the eye to the main character of the last supper — to Jesus. The colors of the fresco are shaded with the time. However, it produces an effect of looking at it through the misted glass. The colors are not bright with red and blue shades dominating over the others. The subject matter that was used for this work of art was biblical depicting the moment during the last supper of Jesus Christ that he organized for his devoted twelve apostles and the very moment when he said to them that he knows that somebody was going to betray him. This moment is very emotional that lets the author to reveal the variety of human emotions with the help of paints and his outstanding talent.
The artwork is stylistically significant for a number of reasons. However, the first and the most important point is that this is the first painting that reflects the people whom the artist intended to depict acting like real and alive. The moment revealed the emotions of the twelve apostles when they heard that someone would soon betray Jesus. And it is possible to see all the despair, anger, sadness, inevitability and a wide range of other emotions in this mural.
Moreover, this artwork reveals the characteristic features of the period of Renaissance. This period characterized by renovation of art and deep humanization of all masterpieces. As this piece of art brightly reflects all possible human emotions, focuses upon the personalities and creates an image of human importance this makes it stand out as a perfect example of Renaissance period in art.
Usage of lines and proportions was professionally applied to the painting and adds a lot to the general style of the picture and the way of accepting it by the observer. The artwork has several focus points with the main one in the center of the picture that lies in the right eye of Jesus. Twelve apostles are divided into four groups symmetrically and create a sort of ideal proportion of the whole mural.
By way of conclusion the painting is a masterpiece and an ideal example of usage of the proportion and retrospective accompanied by the high quality effects of shadows and variations of light and based on the important event of human history.