TO UNDERSTAND THE SCENE

All these pictures illustrate a meal with a varying number of guests. Some details allow to recognize them and to prevent any confusion.

This is a more intimate meal with the risen Christ and the two pilgrims at Emmaus who recognize him when he shares bread.

See the Pilgrims at Emmaus

The apostles distribute among the crowd the loaves of bread and the fish Jesus has just multiplied to feed those who have followed him. The miracle of the Loaves and Fish is represented in different ways and can resemble a meal as in this miniature.

Another meal but here a woman kisses the feet of a man or wipes them with her hair; it is either called “Christ at Supper with Simon”, or “The Unnamed Woman at Simon the Pharisee's”, or even “The Feast at the House of Simon”.

See The sinning Woman at Simon’s House

This is a festive meal with Jesus and a woman in the foreground but this time the woman is standing and is pouring some perfume on Christ’s head; it is the Unction at Bethany.

See The sinning Woman at Simon's House

Still another banquet but stone jars are in the foreground or very visible; it is the Wedding at Cana

See the Wedding at Cana

The Last Supper; DUCCIO di Buoninsegna; 1308-11, tempera on wood panel; Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena, Italy

Web Gallery of Art

The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 26

Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to him, Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the passover?

Now when the evening had come, he sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say to you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, He that dips his hand with me in the dish shall betray me.

Then Judas, who betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said to him, You have said it.

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink you all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine, from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. (Matthew 26:17-29)

Banquets: The Last Supper

Leonardo da Vinci has created a model with a long table in the foreground and the apostles in small groups; this model will have a long heritage. The disciple on the left of Christ is John the Evangelist painted with a feminine face to indicate his youth.

Pictures of the Last Supper are numerous and often contrasting, with open or closed space, reduced or enlarged scenes and various representations of Christ, Judas and John the Evangelist.

Poussin recreates an ancient context with men lying around the table; Holbein gives Judas the classic anti-Semitic features of the Jew.

Two very similar representations but on different materials; a view from above onto a square table; Judas can hardly be recognized and John the Apostle is reclining on Christ’s chest only in the wood sculpture.

At the Last Supper, Jesus institutes the Eucharist; hence this meal has been turned into the Catholic mass with the distribution of the communion to the apostles and the Virgin Mary added by Fra Angelico.

In Joos van Wassenhove, John has become an altar boy; Judas, relegated to the left corner, refuses communion while some spectators, contemporaries of the painter, are to be seen on the right.

These two examples are breaking the traditional composition. Tintoretto represents at the same time an inn and the communion table, while Vouet puts emphasis on a secondary scene recalling the Miracle at Cana.

Attention, this is not the Last Supper but the Unction at Bethany

All the details of the Last Supper are present; only the presence of Mary Magdalene pouring perfume on Christ’s head allows the spectator to see the difference. The confusion is voluntary; at the Last Supper, Christ announces his imminent death and the perfume poured evokes the embalming that follows.

See  The sinning woman

The Last supper is still celebrated.

Christians commemorate Christ’s Last Supper with his apostles but they give it a slightly different meaning. It is called “mass” by Catholics, “holy supper” by Protestants and “holy sacrifice” by Orthodox Christians. It is celebrated particularly on the Thursday between Palm Sunday and Easter Day; it is called Maundy (or Holy) Thursday.

Jesus having rendered thanks to God before consecrating bread and wine, Catholics also give the Last Supper the name of Eucharist which means” thanks” in Greek; or even the name of communion to underline the community dimension of the meal.

The early Christians used the Greek word “agape” which can be translated as “brotherly love”; this word has passed into the French language; French “agapes” designates a brotherly meal and, by extension, a feast.

 
A 19^th-century Freemason banquet or brotherly love
 

Meals have taken a sacred dimension in the Occident partly because of Christ’s Last Supper.

To be together around a table, to share the same meal, to invite the stranger to one’s table are signs of communion proper to our civilisation. This supposes there are no obstacles linked to food prohibitions, or different statuses of social purity, or even segregation based on sex or age.

To be able to eat together with friends or neighbours of different races, classes or religions is an advantage that is rather rare in the world and this has been possible partly thanks to Christianity.

On the other hand, superstitious people are still apprehensive of “thirteen at table”; this number brings bad luck, an allusion to Judas who betrayed Jesus.

Bread and wine were the two food staples of the Mediterranean

 With the expansion of Christianity, they have become the typical diet in the West. To evoke the Jewish Passover, the loaves or hosts used by Christians for communion are unleavened.

The bread we eat everyday is fermented and, because of the Last Supper, it has become almost sacred. It is not thrown away; it is cut and served with great care.

    Bernard Buffet
Bread and wine  Site origine

Just as the growing of vine has extended in order to celebrate mass, so wheat bread has become the distinctive sign of Europeans and its consumption is still spreading throughout the world without any religious reference.