The fight. The last supper by Leonardo Da Vinci when it was 1st shown in 1499 he created shock waves through italy and beyond changing the world of art for ever but a 20 year restoration effort has revealed the awful truth of the original fresco only some 20 percent is still visible simply put we can no longer seen or understand why this painting had such a devastating impact. Or can we. This is the incredible story of a hub across europe following a trail of clues of documents hidden for centuries that suggests that labor go at his workshop painted another last supper a huge life size cant see but none other than the king of france does that painting still exist and if so can it reveal the secrets of the original fresco. This is where the story starts in milan the most important fashion in business city in all of modern italy and in that sense not much has changed even in the 15th century milan was a bustling city filled with artists and musicians. Of old a city states in italy. The duchy of milan was the most powerful the most exuberant and the wealthiest by far no wonder that many kings in europe wanted to conquer it she kuli because the man in charge that you named Ludovico Sforza was a tyrant who had ceased power in 14 he was than any other such rulers he was desperate to cloak his the legitimacy with the splendor of a renaissance court. The jew had many projects a monastery complex called it the tolls of the pov yeah and a new Church Building right here in milan called the sometime area that i got outside but the biggest project of all was this massive cathedral deliberately designed to be the biggest Church Building in all of italy so naturally the city was a magnet for Young Artists and sculptors from all over the region. But while a lot of this artist wasnt from lombardy he was from florence the most exciting city in all of italy a wellspring of the renaissance what was he doing painting at fresco in milan. Answer may be found in a small village outside of florence called vinci. Leonardo was a natural child the son of a farmers daughter cut enough for one day had a role in the hay with a promising young notary called 7 pm of course marriage was out of the question a Bright Future awaited said pietro provided he married a wife from a prestigious family. Thats why labor nardo was never truly part of the creative circles of florence around lorenzo the major with artists like to betty. Or michelangelo these were folks who wrote latin sonnets and could hold their own and find society. Theyre not i was never part of that. But said piero never forgot his son and was only his ready to use his connections to help him get work but the lack of a proper education left Young Leonardo at a major disadvantage. Instead he was apprenticed to the workshop of one of the most prolific artists of florence and their clear here leonardo learned how to mix pigments prepare panels or transfer a large fresco drawings called cartoons to a plaster wall. And eventually for allowed him to paint one of the angels in his panel of the baptism of cries its obvious that leonardos angel is much more beautiful than the rather darr angel to the right painted by frodo peel himself so how did he create such lovely and gentle like faces the answer by using a New Invention called oils or as most of florence still use the flat collars of tempera paint which drives quickly leonardo had begun to experiment with pigments mixed with oils the technique 1st developed in Northern Europe day adventists all hast several suspects temporary as that in order to create a 3 dimensional object you pretty much have to mix every great single color that you put in there or crosshatch it so you get the feeling that i mention but with oil you didnt have that problem you have an incredible range from black to white collar seamlessly and sell this was a huge shift for for the artists and a renaissance. Im there is a classically trained artist who painted a live size re creation of the Sistine Chapel for the Motion Picture angels and demons. And how were these oils made well they were ground up pigments that could be anything from bones to dry possibly to of course famous drawing ability that came from afghanistan that was so expensive that it cost more than actual gold in its own weight my god more than gold yes it it. The 15th century the quatro cento was a an exciting time to be in florence it was a time of rebirth the renaissance the revival of the ancient world and the arts and science and literature and engineering here for example Filippo Brunelleschi used roman engineering to create this vast dome over the do moment the cathedral of florence while burlesque he was taking measurements of ancient temples in rome he had discovered that when you draw as street or a building all the horizontal lines seem to converge to a Common Center what today we call the vanishing point. Rule asking had discovered the laws of linear perspective it revolutionized the renaissance art suddenly painters could create an illusion of 3 dimensional space as if the image they painted was a window on another world. You know for us its almost impossible to imagine the impact of this innovation why because today we are surrounded by simulated images are full of billboards Television Cinema they have conditioned our brain to interpret flat images as 3 dimensional reality but in the middle ages men and women never had that experience before and so there must have been utterly amazed. By a painting like this one. The crucifixion by massager the 1st fresco in history to use linear perspective. People in those days most of thought it was some form of magic to see space weather was only a flat wall. Layer not all was also trained in the magic of linear perspective in the workshop of his master of the rockies and he too was amazed by the possibilities but as he began his 1st major painting they are now realized that linear perspective had one major drawback. It tended to see by fall the figures and inhibit their expressive power in many paintings the figures became like puppets fixed on a rigid grid 10 years later naruto would write how to give you figures or pleasing air. Look about you. When you see a beautiful face remember its features and fix them in your mind. So what leonardo is saying is dont let geometry deprive your characters of feelings of emotions of psychological drama and the 1st bold attempt to do just that is a painting that hangs right here in the feeds it called the adoration of the magic. Unfortunately the monks who commissioned a panel werent interested in moving the boundaries of italian art they simply wanted a pretty picture of the native any that people could recognize and worship. And so the work was stopped and the painting remained unfinished it would take nearly 2 decades before layer nardo good realize his great vision he talked about wanting to create his work of fame you can see but unless hes work of fame he can see donna tellers works of fame and he wanted to create his own and so his destiny he felt he lay with a large a large court with a grand patron and a Single Person who is going to be writing the checks and that happened to be at the most powerful man and itll lead me to 14 eighties and for the ninetys was the duke of milan lot of equals 4 and so thats why he went north in 1482 to begin working for a summit was in effect the prince and not just a group of monks thats why a layman are decided to turn his back on the forums and thats why he came here in milan filled with ambition not as an artist but as an engineer a military and it is he even prepared and then press a pitch for the job but catalogue all of us military towns. Methods for destroying every fortress or stronghold and thats built on a rock. I can also design different types of can which we heard in stones and ball like a hail storm. Leonardos hopes came to look and it took several years for a joke ludovico to finally notice the florentine artist but the project he gave him a huge equestrian statue ended in failure the only thing that remains of this massive project are his studies. Live in arthur was ready to tackle the greatest most ambitious. Composition of his young career a series of 13 live sized portraits of men seated at a table for a wall in milan. How did the last supper project come about and who asked leonardo to pain it. Has become a surprise but he really dont know what we need to know is that the jukes fault so i tended to favor home grown artists like giovanna the month of fall that may not have been particularly in the maginot it but they delivered their work on time and on budget like this fresco of st peter water. What we do know is that the joke had chosen this church to become the pantheon of his dynasty. Actually it was part of a Dominican Convent and the abbot white away saw as opportunity so he asked the joke if he would build him a new or factory place to have meals for the monks complete with frescos. A refectory was usually decorated with 2 paintings a last supper and a crucifixion of christ. The last supper illustrated the institution of the eucharist. Or as the crucifixion depicted the redemption of mankind to the suffering of jesus the 2 connor reports of christian theology. d the most important for us go destined for the south wall was the crucifixion of christ this did you gave to giovanni dum want to fun know whose family had been working in the cathedral of milan for many decades. But who was going to paint the north wall. Lay not of the vinci up to this point but lay it out or had done other than the failed question project in the 2 small portraits was the production of plays and masks for the entertainment of the jucundus court was he truly going to be given this monumental fresco but laid out a was in effect a special effects man for the duke and so i guess we would think of him as a sort of a combination set designer Costume Designer and special effects person for these spectaculars that lot of eco would have staged maybe a couple of times a year in the lion. That is why lunardi it was determined that with this fresco he was going to stomach the moment. And they probably would have been expecting that he would have done a last supper akin to all of those that have been done primarily in florence in tuscany sienna for the previous 200 years but of course he did something quite different and that archetype showed christ breaking bread thats establishing the 1st eucharist but like a skilled film director leonardo picked a far more dramatic see the moment when jesus the players that one of the men in the. Whom is a traitor. That news literally explodes from the center and hits the apostles in various poses of shock disbelief sorrow even anger the full panoply of Human Emotions is laid bare the same idea that had galvanized his adoration of the manager some 25 years earlier by an order wanted action and he also wanted the emotion and the dramatic intensity of what happened in in those seconds in jerusalem and that of course is one of the magnificent things about the painting he brings that to life and we see that and instantly i think we can understand whats happening there its that whole vortex of human drama thats right where everyone is reacting differently their asking each other theres a the credulity theres a disbelief theres anger there is in the cases of the light st john he just appears to be coming awake and theres being interrogated by st peter and so he does he takes each of each of these 12 and gives them. Some characteristics some you know with facial expressions hand gestures things like that in order to take us into the character but here is the great tragedy most of these beautiful expressions are no longer visible today but i said metal is not a cat that. Often enough credit has an emotional beat on it a trick upon a technique because you had an end up on the other that if i ask book would laugh was the express you the next left it out was not thats still too sad especially dont add on to sender and. Unlike the funnel who used conventional fresco techniques leonardo could not resist experimenting with his pigments to try to create the same optical effects that he had pioneered with his or helping to use the result was catastrophic. I think the thing thats so interesting about him is that hes got different intellectual interests and so hes trying to achieve different goals with paint and hes asking different questions of them larry keith is the head of conservation and keeper at Londons National Gallery but also i think he really was in sydney and exploring nuances of tonal gradation all those kinds of distinctions that i think are really not possible to achieve in france. In 1517 influential cardinal named luigi dada gone and his secretary and tonio debbie optus went on a tour and among others visited the convent in milan to see the last supper. As the b. Artist would write it is most excellent although it is beginning to decay eva because of that than most of the wall or some other form of the collect. In the centuries since the 1st go continue to deteriorate because it was adjoining a kitchen so all the moisture was trapped in the wall. In the end theres really no way to know what len are those great masterpiece looked like. Or is there. Long before antonios visit another even more distinguished visitor came to milan with an army into this was the newly crowned king of friends louis de 12 just one year after his elevation the king marched on milan to claim the city as his home. And what was the 1st thing that king louis did after he set himself up here in the Castello Sforza the answer is in the book written by leo nanos 1st biographer george of us are. As for sorry says the king when on a visit he went to see the last supper. The kid was deeply pressed by the Actual Service picture of him composition and execution and convinced that he should take it back to his king so he tried to find haka techs who could build a framework of wood and i have to safely transport the fresco back to france with the regard for expense so much to he want to have it. But since it was painted on a wall his majesty could not have his design. But kings arent used to being told what they cannot have and so louis decided on an even bigger gambit but for that he needed leonard of himself at least thats our theory. Even though leonardo was in milan he was wanted back in florence to finish another fresco the battle of beyond and the whole of the 500. 00 and your ego so he wasnt in a position to stay in milan and do whatever the king had in mind for him but then something extraordinary something that changed everything. This is the arcadia adelas thought of the feet hands in the state archives of forms with documents that go back over a 1000 years and here we found a truly remarkable letter which they let out the elite you think although they chase him up unless an idiot if you didnt fit in the attic with dorothy she jane najar militia question to say it then here is a letter from the french king himself king louis to 12th to the going following year to the president of the French Republic and signoria asking as we have need of must. Paint the city of florence and want to make him do something by his own hand we beg you to kindly left out all work for us for a period of time and carry out the work we take him to do. I think its becoming clearer what the french king once lived in order to do if he can have their 1st school itself he will have the next best thing a copy on canvas that he can take back to france. And whats interesting about is that the king doesnt tell the signoria what he would like him to do he is very cagey about the thing doesnt say how long because if our theory is correct and he wants leonardo to make a copy of the last supper that would take. A very long time indeed. The idea of such a live size copy was not far fetched leonardo was arguably one of the 1st painters in history who used his studio to make copies of his own works for sale such as divergent of the rocks painted with his associate umbrella joy the platys. The madonna of the yarn winder possibly painted with his pupil francesco spaniel the saint m. Painted with his assistant mel c. And of course the mona lisa painted by his pupil and close companion solomon. There was a good reason for that here in the sometime early enough about had a large studio with lots of assistance but he works very slowly and its difficult to maintain a large studio when you have a very limited output but its not so hard if you use your best assistants to make copies of your works for sale under the masters supervision of course so what happened to this copy of the last supper who painted it and as a still exist. Theres only one way to find out and that is to go to france. Today we think of paris as the worlds epicenter all our culture and fashion this is where the world comes for beauty and refinement. But in the 16th century things for very different. People sometimes forget that but in the middle ages it was actually burgundy. Which dictated french culture not just an art but also in poetry and music and then came the scourge of the black plague and the 100 years war in which joan of arc would play such an important part. So by the time i mean a 12th came to the throne friends was a mere shadow of its former self and louis was very much aware. He knew that french artists needed to take their cue. From the italian renaissance and i think thats why he was so incredibly keen to get the last cell for him to friends. But if thats true and if alive size copy of the last supper was actually made where did it go the answer i think maybe hidden behind these walls this is the shuttle did god which one served as the residents of georgia done was. Doesnt wealth was the most important name besides that of a king with a 12 a sort of Prime Minister we can underline the fact that he was us both with us the king. Like his master king louis done ones was deeply smitten with the beauty of italian art he decided he wanted to build a chateau there was entirely in the renaissance time the 1st one in france and so he brought back scores of italian artists and masons to do just that. Its not enough to just let him feel this current. Unforeseeable felt when he died and rested on. Various flattery. The people of new notice that she came here. And what do we do lots of things to degrade yourself and one of the most beautiful shaka of the sixties and to reinforce. The fact that. One of leone are those leading pupils was working in this chateau around 1509 may be the missing piece of the puzzle. Unfortunately the chapel and much of the chateau were destroyed in the french revolution and the turmoil that follow but one work that andrea painted for the chateau still exists the deposition from the cross which today hangs in the. Central florida of what we know of him is that he was from a family of artists we think he was probably what you balance in a period when you know that was very fast and so he wasnt there with him right from the beginning and around 49 to 5 how we came back from venice team on with his brother christopher a which is of course exactly the moment when the you know days beginning to work on the last day. If thats true then celerity 0 must have been present as the great francisco of the last supper took shape on the refectory wall and since he was one of leonard those most talented pupils could he have been the one who painted the copy for the french chain in the archives of the chateau we find a key piece of evidence an inventory of all property including printers from the 15 forties one of these paintings is no sin fact on twine and gone persona the film will say your feet stop r. T. D. Below a lance supper on canvas with monumental figures which is grace had brought over from malone. Could this be our 1st hard piece of evidence of a live size copy of the last supper on gone past on ours with monumental failures. Put this together with what we know that im very a celeb was in guy you know in 1509 and the pieces begin to fall into place. There is little doubt that solari 0 was a favorite of the dumb was family and 1507. 00 even painted a portrait of georges nephew charlotte dumb ones charlotte was none other than the governor of milan at that time but given the short time frame in which the copy was finished between 15071509 is likely that not only so lottery 0 but also other leonardo pupils were involved including for example jump. But heres the next question where is this campus after all if its as big as we think it is its not something you would lose very easily and thats why we find ourselves on the train to antwerp in belgium to follow the next trail of tunnels. We usually think of and for prez the city of rubens painter of the baroque but even in the early renaissance and for was a very important city primarily because of sort of those that major port in the low countries. But things started to change in the early 16th century primarily as a result of the growing tensions between the protestant north and the catholic south which ultimately produced the 80 years war. This is when the Catholic Church looked for every which way to defend the faith in the low countries and founded in this abbey the abbey of total. You. Know what i think is so interesting is that dutch calvinism rejected all forms of religious imagery paintings sculpture even stained glass it was all torn down and destroyed i think thats why the abbot of total world decided he should get the biggest painting of christ and his apostles he could find to deter the north and give a boost to the catholic faithful in the sun. Reportedly this painting needs to exists in a small chapel on the grounds of this very company. Oh my god there it is again yes of the painting weve been looking for all these weeks. It is magnificent. So the painting was brought to bear and just in that specific moment the abbot of tongue good little has asked somebody to look off to the beautiful great. Painting religion. For the new abbey church he wrote a letter to the abbot tap this the last supper of Leonardo Da Vinci it was sold on the 2nd of february in 50145 so the painting was actually presented and sold. A product of lived out of the big painted by leo a lot of the while it was in those days was not that important but probably. 90 percent of the painting as the work of. The disciples spilled pulls off chia tell me about this theory of who painted christ and seen just well. You know but ive been the. Lady who has been restoring for 22 years the original fresco in milan as she has she said to this is a work of a group. Of if you. Please disciples of. But she said im convinced that christ is and especially also the apostle of sin john your favorite model. I think he has been painted by himself by a layer not of them yeah. Mine is that its yes its a quality the quality of you know when you look at painting you see that thing gonna see its its a nice and its exceptional quality and very very about and they also made x. Rays of some 20 years ago there are under dig postell sketch of exact same time on christ youre telling me that there are there is an under drawing under all of the apostles yeah except for john and crossed that is painted directly on the campus that was that has held off. Of the x. Rays that is an astonishing discovery. So we might conclude that even though the apostles may have been painted by his pupils and perhaps on various celeriac that lay not to himself painted christ and since the most important figures on the last supper p yeah yeah and that was so its they both to painting as a work of the thing thats fascinating its fascinating it is a beautiful work but is this the painting that king louis to 12 ordered from leonardo in 1507 and Andreea Solari you brought to france and 59. Fortunately the abbey has an extensive archive going back many hundreds of years and here we find in this polishing eyewitness account thats for saying that because hunt and julie just said that the painting is made after an original painted on a wall that is now a bad patch. When the king of france who conquered milan sold the painting he was very disappointed that he could not take it live in since it was painted on the wall and so he gave the order to. I have a copy made and thats the copy that hangs in the quiet today. So what we have here is an eyewitness document from the 16th century that confirms our theory that louis did 12 ordered a copy of the last supper from Leonardo Da Vinci and this painting now hangs on the wall of this beautiful abbey in belgium. But then the plot thickens once more as we saw such a large canvas could not have been painted by just one artist such a small time frame so who would have painted on the then interior solaria the most likely candidate is an italian artist called jump you tina for as we will discover in london he went on to make a 2nd call. For 250 years the Royal Academy at Burlington House in london thats been training generations of british artists by drawing inspiration from the work of the great masters. So were sitting here in the library which very much relates to the training all the artists beneath were all what we call bacterial through artist and spot of them to look at when do you think were like can we acquire the copy of the last supper and why did they acquire so it was 821. 00 the academy bought it for 600. 00 guineas which them with a lot of money as a sort of comparison in a few 20 the national got a report every old titian just over 300. 00 pounds so to spend 600. 00 pounds on what was a copy was an immense amount of money so they had to gather all the artists together they will have to vote on it and agree that this was a good purchase it was this. Ordinary example of leonardos work i mean although its a copy i think it was seen as a real window into the sort of achievements of leonardo and to have in the schools for the artist the students with an amazing theres a note by leonardo that refers to a jump into who we think is probably the same person and we know that a figure more or less of this name is working in milan from at least around 1587 so in that 2nd period after leonardo has been back to florence and then returned to milan and would you agree that he is probably one of the principal artists in the copy of the world yes so thats very much the current line of thinking although actually moroni has recently going back to the technical drawings underpinning this work and has due to Technical Analysis of the under drawings of the work has asserted that in fact its probably all tracking his hand initially and then jump coming in as a secondary hand. If its true that jump you 3 know worked on both the tunnel over asia and then later around 1520. 00 on this copy it would seem that between these 2 paintings we would have a very accurate sense of what the original fresco once looked like. I think the scale of it is it does appear to be very very close to the original and for me means heads that we we can investigate further afield the very place the original book traffic and champion train obviously had access to the an art is drawing with cartoon and i think with possibly evidence that there may have been some sort putting out all tracing all you know from these original cartoon and say you know this is really interesting that the basis maybe even closer than we originally thought. Not that we found not one but 2 live sized versions of the last supper by layer naro and his top pupils do we have long last have a key to see what the fresco and milan truly look like. A last supper painting that would go on to transform the course of western ark could anyone in the 49 years havent dissipated the tremendous impact that this fresco would have he would have been told by the look of eco and the prior of sundry deliberate see the last supper and they probably would have expected he would have done the last supper akin to all of those that have been done primarily in florence in tuscany scieno for the previous 200 years but later wrote of course did not work like that and he did say that the way to make a painting was not to look at other paintings it was to look at real life and so i think what he wanted to do and why he thought the bible was find the drama in the story was almost like he. Was the director of a film that he was given the brief this is the film youre going to make were going to make a film of the last supper play no i dont want to action and then he also wanted the emotion and the dramatic intensity of what happened in those seconds in jerusalem and that of course is one of the magnificent things about the painting that he brings that to life and we see that and instantly i think we can understand whats happening there 3 paintings and yet one vision a vision of the painting the most familiar scene from the gospels in a way that had never been done before. And now we know what that original vision once looked like thanks to a canvas and the remote convent in belgium of course in the years to come the high renaissance would produce some of the most memorable frescoes in history including rafaels tongues and the vatican and michelangelos immortal ceiling of the Sistine Chapel but all that incredible realisable that monumental grasp of the human figure 1st started with a fresh go on the wall of a refactoring in milan. Environmentally conscious living. With maximum. Comfort. From tanzania is helping make it possible he started with sustainable ideas in his own home. Kitchen how hes inspiring others to innovate and his invention school eco africa. In 30 minutes on d w. A there im david and this is climate change. Happiness increase book. This is the book for you. To get smarter for free or you go on you tube. This is the w. News live from but then christians around the world mark good friday in isolation pope francis lead sentiment is of the vatican without a Live AudienceLive Streaming his address instead as italys government extends the coronavirus lockdown into may also on the program germanys chancellor describes the coronavirus an economic rescue package agreed by e. U. Finance ministers as a milestone and so the 500000000000 euro deal will soften the pandemics of financial and