This enamel painting from the collection of the Andrei Rublev Museum is a copy of the eponymous work by Leonardo da Vinci. The Italian master created his mural painting “The Last Supper” for the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy between 1495 and 1497.

When creating his painting, Leonardo experimented with technique: he used greasy egg tempera on dry gesso, with a thin undercoat of white lead to enhance the brightness of the light. The painting began to fade almost immediately after it was created, and, according to Giorgio Vasari and Gian Paolo Lomazzo, it completely lost its original appearance by the mid-16th century.

The masterpiece is regarded as Leonardo’s greatest achievement in the use of optics and aerial perspective. He visually expanded the refectory by making all the lines in the painting converge in one place at the top, against a bright window with an endless landscape outside. The geometric, compositional, plot, and symbolic center of the scene is the figure of Christ. All the agitated and confused apostles turn their gazes to Him.

The artist paid close attention to depicting the emotional state of the apostles through facial expressions and gestures. In their images, he attempted to convey the full spectrum of human emotion. For his painting, Leonardo chose the most dramatic scene when Christ informs the apostles that one of them would betray Him. This composition became one of the most popular ones in 19th-century Russian art. In Russian churches governed by the Holy Synod, replicas of Leonardo’s “The Last Supper” are represented by icons above the holy gates and in other areas.

The rectangular horizontal icon is set in a bronze frame. The details of the composition correspond to the original image, including the format, architectural structure, and the placement of Jesus and the apostles. The icon also features an identical dark, symmetrical interior with a table stretching across the entire length and three light windows, with the central one placed behind Christ and topped with relief décor. The motions and gestures of the apostles create the illusion of an emotional wave pulsing from the center of the composition and fading away closer to the edges.

In some details, the painting deviates from the original work. For example, the position of Judas at the table and the golden halo around Christ’s head are changed according to the Orthodox tradition. Using the technique of enamel painting, the artist managed to achieve the effect of chiaroscuro, typical of the style of Leonardo and Italian mural painting of the 16th century.