The Last Supper

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

The Christian sacrament of the Eucharist is traced to the Last Supper, when Christ said of the wine, “This is my blood.” For artists, the scene was full of both symbolic and narrative potential. Albrecht Dürer created a compact, vertical composition that focuses on the closeness of the disciples and the moment, wine flowing, when Christ reveals his fate. Dürer’s ingenious woodcut technique includes the creation of a halo made from parallel lines around Christ’s head that continue outward to define the shadow of the vaulted room. This print depicts the apostles dining on a humble but sturdy refectory table. Dürer included the date of the print on the middle trestle, a location often reserved for heraldry on more lavish tables.