Da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ Feels Truly Personal When Turned Into ‘Living Painting’
Image via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpieces are sure to make you feel things, but just like how Lin Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton helped connect Americans to their history, you’ll probably need to relive events—albeit secondhand—to have a grasp of what was really going on.
While The Last Supper painting has amazed people for centuries, film director Armondo Linus Acosta sought to make the viewing experience more personal by turning it into a “living painting.”
To create The Last Supper: The Living Tableau, Acosta roped in three Oscar winners to recreate the famous Da Vinci artwork in 3D, namely cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, production designer Dante Ferreti, and set decorator Francesca Lo Schiavo, according to a report by Aleteia.
The director chose to record the scene in extreme slow motion, explaining that he does not “consider it to be a film, but rather a picture,” or more specifically, a “living tableau.” Spanning nine-minutes-long, the recreated artwork encourages viewers to deliberate on what is happening in the painting.
The room and table first fade in, illustrating the tension the apostles felt as they waited for Jesus Christ to arrive. They discuss among each other, perplexed as to why they were asked to gather. Finally, Jesus arrives, and after blessing the supper, reveals he has been betrayed by one of the apostles.
The “living painting” was aired on Italian Catholic television network TV 2000 on the Thursday before Good Friday to pay tribute to Pope Francis, as well as to offer a prayer amid this painful period. You can view it below.
[via Aleteia, video via Corriere della Sera, cover image via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)]
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