Getty Museum
The Last Supper
Creator
Simon BeningFlemish Illuminator · 1483–1561
All works by this person →One of the most celebrated painters of Flanders in the 1500s, Simon Bening was hailed by Portuguese art critic Francisco da Hollanda as the greatest master of illumination in all of Europe. In addition to producing books for powerful aristocrats such as Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg, Bening worked for a group of international royal patrons including Emperor Charles V and Don Fernando, the Infan
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1525–1530
- Medium
- Tempera colors, gold paint, and gold leaf
- Culture
- Flemish
- Department
- Manuscripts
- Institution
- Getty Museum
In this miniature, Simon Bening concentrated several moments of the Last Supper into a single scene. As Christ announces that one of those at the table will betray him, the disciples react in a troubled fashion. As he speaks, Christ looks directly at Judas, the bearded man with curly hair on the left. Jesus also offers him a piece of bread, the means of identifying the betrayer in Saint John's account of the Last Supper. Judas rises up from his seat to accept the bread from Christ. Bening set the scene in a contemporary interior with wooden floors and leaded-glass windows with shutters. To distinguish Christ's special status, Bening included a green brocade canopy behind him, a medieval marker of nobility and another feature contemporary with the artist's world rather than the biblical world.
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