The refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie forms an integral part of this architectural complex, begun in 1463 and reworked at the end of the 15th century by Bramante. On the north wall is The Last Supper, the unrivalled masterpiece painted between 1495 and 1497 by Leonardo da Vinci, whose work was to herald a new era in the history of art.
[expand title=”The Church and the Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie: a symbol of Milanese Renaissance architecture”]
The building of Santa Maria delle Grazie started in 1463 after the donation of the land by Count Gaspare Vimercati, General Commander of the Sforza troops. The actual complex is the result of two main stages: a first “solariana” stage, i.e. based on the design of the famous architect Guiniforte Solari, former chief engineer at the Duomo and the Certosa di Pavia building sites, two works on which Milan worked for many decades, and a second stage between 1480 and 1497. The two moments were characterized by different architectural and stylistic choices. In the first stage, works were carried out in harmony with Lombard models with a recovery of the Romanesque style. In a second stage, starting from 1480, works were carried out on the façade of the Grazie with the building of the portal and, in an increasingly radical manner, the review and partial demolition of Solari’s church, with the building of the new tribune, less than ten years after the completion of Guiniforte Solari’s project. In 1492, Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, gave Donato Bramante, considered one of the most refined architects in Italy at the time, the task of working on the unfinished building, with the purpose of enlarging it and placing his and his spouse’s remains inside. The choice of taking Bramante to the Sforza court can be read in the light of cultural expectations inspired by Renaissance values, with the intention of adhering to the new humanistic spirit both in terms of religion and architecture.[/expand]
[expand title=”The Last Supper by Leonardo. A miracle of painting”]
Inside the Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie is a treasure of art, the work that, maybe with a few others, represents the core of humanistic art and, at the same time, the programmatic manifesto of the artist who gave it to history. In the western wing of one of the three cloisters, the Cloister of the Dead, is the Refectory, known for the presence of the Last Supper. The fresco, representing Jesus with the Apostles at the last supper, was painted by Leonardo da Vinci and dates to the last years of the last decade of the 15th century: historians say that it was plausibly painted between 1494 and 1498, taking into account that the execution was preceded by a few years of accurate preparatory studies. In the painting, Leonardo shows the moment preceding Judas’s identification: Jesus just said the famous words “One of you will betray me”. Significant and important scientific considerations are behind the execution of the masterpiece by Leonardo. Leonardo’s poetics connects art and science to reach, through the painting, the maximum degree of closeness to sensory life: a unique ideal of immense humanistic value, which characterized Leonardo’s creative genius both in terms of artistic and scientific profile. The world-famous fresco in Santa Maria delle Grazie represents a sort of illustrated and figurative transposition of an acoustic, optical and dynamic law. A literally illustrative link seems to exist between Leonardo’s scientific works and the Last Supper, his handwritten thoughts on sound and light propagation and the Apostles surrounding Jesus. This makes the work an excellent example of creativity, study and artistry without equal in the history of art.[/expand]