# The Mirror (Leonardo da Vinci - The Last Supper)

Eduard Dolgunov

The story of the creation of the legendary fresco "The Last Supper" in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie commissioned by the Milanese Duke Ludovico Sforza in memory of his late wife Beatrice d'Este.

Mirror

Mirror. Good and evil have the same face; it all depends on when they cross each of our paths. (Leonardo da Vinci).

— Maestro, — the duke looked sadly at da Vinci, — in memory of my late spouse, Beatrice d'Este, I want you to create the fresco "The Last Supper" in the refectory of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. It was the dream of my beloved wife and I ask you to take on this work.

— I will try to fulfill the request of your late spouse, Signor Ludovico il Moro, — Leonardo bowed, — it is a great work, — and repeated, — I will try.

— Signor da Vinci, — the duke frowned, — almost three years have passed, and the fresco is still not ready. The prior of the convent reports that you work little on the painting, sometimes only two hours a day, and he complains that you pay no attention to his persistent requests to speed up the work and for some reason even threatened to paint Judas from his face. Is this true?

— he smiled, — explain why you don't finish the painting?

— Signor Duke, — Leonardo sighed, — this is very difficult work and it has completely exhausted me. I want to depict not dogmatic characters in the painting, but to show the famous dinner from a purely human point of view. For this, as models, I needed ordinary people, whom I looked for on the streets of the city. However, finding the right images was not easy and it took a lot of time. But, as you can see, — he pointed to the fresco, — all the apostles are already depicted and only Judas Iscariot is missing, and he is the second most important character after Jesus. Therefore I threatened the prior of the convent that if he did not stop interfering with my finding the right man, then I would use the head of this intrusive prior as a model and depict him in this image. Although, I must note, his face clearly does not fit this key character type.

— Yes, — the duke shook his head with satisfaction, carefully examining the painting, — impressive, especially Jesus. His inexpressibly tender face breathes deep sorrow, he is great and touching, but remains human. Who served as your model for painting his image?

— I found this young man in the church choir and was so struck by his spirituality and purity that no doubts remained: here he is - the prototype of Jesus, — Leonardo smiled.

— I agree, impressive! Well, — the duke sighed, — I will not rush you, Maestro, but please note that I want to see "The Last Supper" while I am still alive.

— Teacher, — said Giovanni (Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio - Da Vinci's student) wearily, it's already night, and we're still wandering through the most disreputable places of Milan. I'm hungry, — the young man pleaded, — it's raining, I'm cold, let's stop the search for today.

— A true artist must always be hungry, — da Vinci pronounced, — a full stomach is the enemy of creativity! Better shine the lamp, look, someone is lying here. A ray of light illuminated a man lying in the mud.

— Giovanni, — Leonardo said, — give me the lamp and pull him out of the ditch, see what a puddle he's lying in. Come on, come on, — he added, seeing the disgusted expression on the youth's face, — show mercy to the servant of God, or he'll drown. Giovanni with difficulty pulled the wet and incredibly dirty man out of the ditch. It was a completely drunk man, spewing curses through a beard matted with mud at the "rescuers" who were preventing him from sleeping. Illuminating the tramp's face, da Vinci exclaimed: Judas! This is Judas! Giovanni, I've found him!

— and throwing back the matted dirty hair of the reclining man, he revealed his face, — Giovanni, we've found the "Apostle"!

— No, no, — the Maestro said excitedly, carefully examining the drunken tramp sleeping on the floor, — no need to wake him. Let him sleep, he's more natural this way and I see how his face simply breathes sinfulness, selfishness and wickedness! Before he sobers up, I need to capture this on canvas. Giovanni, prepare the easel.

— Where am I?

— the tramp asked, trying to sit up.

— And who are you?

— he muttered, looking with clouded eyes at the men standing behind the easels, — what do you want?

— Don't worry, you are in a church, — da Vinci approached him, — I am an artist, and this, — and he pointed to Matteo, — is my student. I am painting a large picture and you suit us as a model. For the duration of the work, you will live at the church, be fed and shod. Do you agree to help us?

— Church... artist... model,..

— the tramp muttered grimacing and got to his feet with difficulty, — somewhere in a past life I already had this. Although, I don't care, if you pay I agree. And what are you painting?

— This fresco, — Leonardo said pointing to the wall, — it's right behind you and is called "The Last Supper". Even a thick layer of dirt didn't hide the pale face of the tramp.

— I have seen this painting before, — he whispered, — in a past life.

— You couldn't have seen it, — the artist objected, — you are mistaken.

— It's me, — the beggar said and pointed a trembling finger at Jesus, — that's my face, you painted me, — and sat on the floor, covering his face with his palms. The Kiss of Judas.

— When you offered me to become the prototype of Jesus, — the tramp's voice trembled perceptibly, — I was an enthusiastic youth, a sincerely believing, pure, spiritual singer of the church choir. How all the choristers envied me then, even monks and holy fathers began to look at me, a simple novice, with respect. After all, the Teacher himself would be painted from an ordinary chorister, that is, from me. Gradually, I began to notice that they started treating me with greater reverence, asking my opinion on some controversial issues, tried to please me and even allocated a personal cell, which in no way fit into the status of a simple church choir singer. People started coming to me for advice, leaving some products in gratitude, then communion wine, and after some time, I began finding money on my prayer table. I began to eat well, go out into the town, buy wine, use the services of venal women. Life sparkled with new colors. I was blinded by a thirst for wealth and the whispering of Satan. I was very pleased with myself, believing that I had achieved everything by my intellect, education and most importantly - my "Divine destiny". I fancied myself God! One evening, being quite tipsy and intending to continue a spree in town, I counted the cash I had. It turned out to be 30 florins and this amount amused me: 30 pieces of silver - the price of Judas's betrayal. Before leaving, I looked into my hand mirror and seeing the familiar "guise of Jesus", suddenly kissed my reflection in delight. Suddenly, the mirror slipped from my hands, fell to the floor and broke. That night I was badly beaten in some tavern, after some time I caught a "foul" disease from some courtesan. I started drinking heavily and one day I saw myself in the mirror again - an embittered old man with a dirty black disheveled beard and matted hair looked back at me. They stopped coming to my cell for advice, friends and admirers turned away from me. Over time, I found emptiness around me, I was alone! In despair, I started drinking even more, hoarseness of voice appeared, then for drunkenness and absenteeism my cell was taken away, and, ultimately, I was simply kicked out of the church. Thus I ended up at the bottom of life and became a tramp. Signor artist, — he addressed da Vinci resentfully, — I am telling you about my life, and you are drawing something all this time. What are you depicting?

— Your story, — Leonardo said thoughtfully, — I am painting your life. Our meeting is "Divine Providence" and it's no accident that after so much searching, I found exactly you. Now my servant will take you to the bathhouse, you will change clothes, they will feed you, after which you will return here and we will continue the work. You see, — he pointed to the fresco, — Judas's place is empty. This is your place. But, before you go, — Leonardo approached the beggar, — allow me to ask one question: Imagine that a very long and hard journey lies ahead of you. What will you take with you on the road?

— Money and salt, — the tramp replied after thinking a little, — money to buy food, and salt so my meal wouldn't be bland.

— Money and salt, — da Vinci shook his head, — how simple: Money and salt!

— My boy, — da Vinci said thoughtfully, — do you know what "Transformation" is?

— No, Maestro, — Giovanni replied, — this word is unfamiliar to me.

— Transformation is the turning of some processes into others, but the transforming object does not disappear, rather it passes into another form.

— What does this mean, teacher?

— Giovanni asked in perplexity.

— It means, — Leonardo approached the easel, — that our tramp has transformed from the image of Jesus into the image of his murderer - Judas. But as an object, he did not disappear, but passed into another form, the body remained, but the soul is already different.

— Interesting, — Giovanni said thoughtfully, — and what are you drawing now, Master?

— A mirror, — da Vinci squinted, — I am drawing a mirror - this conductor to the "Looking Glass", through which our singer saw the otherworldly realm, where the soul of the beholder can end up and stay there forever. Such worlds are not considered the afterlife, but beings live in them who observe the owner of the mirror, adopting his habits and appearance, drag them into their world and take the place of the victim. Evil spirits are not reflected in a mirror, but the soul of the beholder is visible in it and our "Judas" saw it. Da Vinci stepped away from the easel and, squinting his eyes, thoughtfully looked at his wall fresco "The Last Supper".

— After the confession of this degraded man, — Leonardo shook his head, — I understood differently the meaning of the Teacher's words addressed to his disciples: "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me". Giovanni stared at the Maestro, spellbound.

— Jesus is in the soul of each of us, — continued da Vinci, — and He says that by betraying Him, you betray your soul. After the betrayal, Judas's soul ended up in the "Looking Glass", leaving in this world only a shell in the form of a degraded, dirty old man, whom we found in a ditch. Da Vinci pressed his body against the wall with the painting and whispered:

— Now I know how to finish "The Last Supper". I realized that betrayal is the secret of a sick soul. I will not betray! Ludovico il Moro looked at the painting for a long time.

— Signor da Vinci, — the duke said, — I am very pleased with your work and do not regret in the slightest that I entrusted exactly you to embody the vision of my late spouse Beatrice d'Este. The images of Jesus and Judas are especially successful. I was told the story of their creation and that the model was one and the same person. This is amazing!

— By these images, Signor il Moro, — Leonardo said, — I wanted to explain to people that good and evil in the guise of Jesus and Judas are much closer than they guess.

— Reasonable, — the duke shook his head, — but I would like to understand the meaning of the scattered salt on the table, near Judas's left hand. In his right hand he clutches a bag with 30 pieces of silver and here I understand - this is the price of betrayal. But the salt spilled from the salt shaker? What did you want to say by this?

— Judas betrayed his soul and his life lost its taste, — da Vinci answered.

— He spilled his salt and if he stays alive, a bland future awaits him, — and after a short pause, he added, — and our beggar is proof of that. The tramp looked at the fresco, carefully examining each character depicted on it. Leonardo and Matteo stood nearby silently.

— Signor artist, — not turning his gaze from the painting, he asked quietly and pointed his finger at Judas, — is that me?

— Yes, — da Vinci answered just as quietly, — this is also you!

— I have already seen him in a past life, — the tramp whispered, — in the mirror, — and left the hall.

— Teacher, — Giovanni approached Leonardo standing behind the easel, — the servant said that the tramp ran away from the church two days ago. Stole your hand mirror in a silver frame and disappeared. Shall I order men to be sent in search of him?

— No, — da Vinci looked at his student, — it's useless to look for him. He is already very far away in a parallel world, in the "LOOKING GLASS", where he still hopes to meet HIM and his SOUL - FROM HIS FORMER LIFE!

— Look, — the ragged beggar pointed a finger, — someone is lying there, let's look. The dirty cronies went down into the ditch. A man lay on his back with arms spread wide, clutching a small silver-framed mirror in one, and a gold florin and an empty salt shaker in the other. Open sightless eyes looked into the sky and even through the dirty disheveled beard it was visible - he was smiling! P. S. "The Last Supper" was painted by Leonardo da Vinci in 1495-1498. In 1500 - a flood occurred in the refectory, partially damaging the fresco. In 1566, the monks cut a door into the kitchen, thereby destroying the Savior's feet. Then the painting was disfigured by a huge state coat of arms, attaching it right above Christ's head. At the end of the 17th century, the refectory was turned into a stable and the fresco was covered with horse manure, and French soldiers amused themselves by throwing bricks at the apostles. During the Second World War, a shell hit the church building and destroyed almost everything except the wall on which the fresco is depicted. For more than 5 centuries, Jesus with his disciples looks at us from the fresco from the wall of the Dominican convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Milan), created by the brilliant Master - scientist, inventor, mathematician, sculptor, artist and great toiler - Leonardo da Vinci and "The Last Supper", yet another confirmation that... GREAT PAINTINGS, LIKE MANUSCRIPTS - DO NOT BURN!!!