The less suffer by laying out a living sheet when it was 1st shown in 1499. 00 it 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 hope across europe following a trail of clues and documents hidden for centuries that suggests. That label ago at his workshop painted another last supper a huge life size kid but none other than the king of france does that painting still exist if so can it reveal the secrets of the original fresco. This is where the story starts in milan the most important fashion and 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 and italy the duchy of milan was the most powerful the most exuberant and the wealthiest buy for no wonder that many kings in europe wanted to conquer it. To kill me because the man in charge the juke named ludovico sports was a tyrant who had seized power in 1481 and many other such rulers he was desperate to cloak his the legitimacy with the splendor of a renaissance called. The joke at many projects a monastery complex called the tolls of the pov via a new Church Building right here in milan called the sometime out a about a guy 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 this city was a magnet for Young Artists who 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 red. Besides what was he doing painting at fresco in milan. And so maybe found in a small village outside of florence called things from. Luna to was a natural child the son of a farmers daughter katherina who one day had a roll in the hay with a promising young notary called 7 pm of course marriage was out of the question a Bright Future awaited says provided he married a wife from the prestigious family. Thats why layer nardo was never truly part of the creative circles of florence around lorenzo dimity with artists like the betty dylan dial or michelangelo these were folks who wrote latin sonnets and could hold their own in fine 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 that i am here here leonardo learned how to mix pigments prepare panels or transfer a large fresco drawing scald cartoons to a plaster wall. And eventually for akio 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 dari angel to the right painted by photo kill himself. So how did he create such lovely and gelug faces the answer by using a New Invention called oils whereas most of florence still use the flat collars of tempera paint which dries quickly leonardo had begun to experiment with pigments mixed with orals the technique 1st developed in Northern Europe day adventists all hast severus extemporaneous that in order to create a 3 dimensional object you pretty much have to mix every single color that you put in there or crosshatch it so you get the feeling that we dont mention but with oil you didnt have that problem you can have an incredible range from black to white collar seamlessly and sell this was a huge shift for 40 artists and the renaissance good or and there is a classically trained artist who painted a live size re creation of the Sistine Chapel for the Motion Picture angels and the. And how were these rules many well they were ground up pigments that could be anything from bones through dry parsley to of course famous altruria blue that came from afghanistan that was so expensive that it cost more than actual gold in its own weight my god more than gold yeah yes it did. 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 in literature and in engineering here for example Filippo Brunelleschi used roman engineering to create this vast dome over the do almost 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. The lasky had discovered the laws of linear perspective it revolutionized the renaissance art suddenly painters who created the 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 a form 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 they must have been utterly amazed by a painting like this one. The crucifixion by massaging the 1st fresco in history to use linear perspective. People in those they support of us some form of magic to see space rather was only a flat wall. They are not 0 was also trained in the magic of linear perspective in the workshop of his mask of ocular 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 leonardo would write how to give you figures a pleasing air. Look about you. When you see a beautiful face remember its features and fix them in your mind. So what layer nardo 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 a 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 done finished it would take nearly 2 decades before labor nardo group realize his great vision he talked about wanting to create his work of fame you can see but unless his work of fame you can see donna tell of works of fame and he wanted to create his own and so his destiny he felt lay with a large a large court with a grand patron and a Single Person who was going to be writing the checks and that happened to the most powerful man in italy in many the 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 someone who was in effect a 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 engineer he even prepared and then press a pitch for the job that catalogue all of us military towns. Methods for destroying every fortress were strong in is built on a rock. I can also design different types of can which was from stones and ball like a hail storm. Leonardos hopes came to look and it took several years for a joke ludovico to finally noticed 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 de painted. This become a surprise but we really dont know what we do know is that the jukes for its a tended to favor home grown artists like giovanna dont want to follow it may not have been particularly in the maginot but they delivered their work on time and on budget like this fresco of st peter bartter. What we do know is that the job 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. Whereas the crucifixion depicted the redemption of mankind to the suffering of jesus the 2 counterpoints of christian theology the 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 of fun whose family had been working in the cathedral of milan for many decades. The middle of the open who was going to paint a north wall. Lane out of the vinci up to this point of laying 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 jew can his court. Was he truly going to be given this monumental fresco but laid out of was in effect a special effects man for the duke and so i 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 a cord have staged maybe a couple of times a year in the lion. That is why little nordo 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 thus establishing the 1st eucharist but like a skilled film director leonardo picked a far more dramatic see the moment when jesus the claires that one of the men in the room is a traitor. That news literally explodes from the center and hits the apostles and 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. In 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 is that hold for techs of human drama thats right where everyone is react. Differently theyre asking each other theres a credulity theres 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 in each of these 12 and gives them. Some characteristics some you know a facial expression 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 say metal is not that that. Often it has because of emotional heat on a patrik upon a technique because you have been in the hopper. Book express you the neck blocked it out was not as you want to said specially dont add an ascended into unlike want of fun or who used conventional fresco techniques leonardo could not resist experimenting with his pick means to try to create the same optical effects that he pioneered with this Oil Paintings 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 aims but 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 interested in exploring. Nuances of tonal british and all those kinds of distinctions that i think are really not possible to achieve in france. In 1517 influential cardinal named luigi dada grown and his secretary and tonio debate this went on a tour and among others visited the convent in milan to see the last supper. As the b. Artists would write it is most excellent although it is beginning to decay eva because of that than most of the wall some of the fall of the clay. 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 until those visit another even more distinguished visitor came to malone with an army in tow this was the newly crowned king of france louis to 12 just one year after his elevation the king marched on milan to clean the city as his home. And what was the 1st thing that king louis did after he set himself up here and its delos 4th so the answer is in the book written by lay on our toes 1st biographer george of us our. Has for sorry says the king went on a visit he went to see the last supper. The kid was deeply pressed by the Actual Service picture ofin 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 am to safely transport the fresco back to france with no 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 gamble but for that he needed leonardo himself at least thats our theory. Even though leonardo was in milan he was wanted back in florence to finish another 1st go the battle of and beyond and the whole of the 500. 00 of the a lot of the other seniority 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 arche view adelas thought of the feet and say the state archives the forms with documents that go back over a 1000 years and here we found a truly remarkable letter if they left it at the elite if they call it he chased him up unless an idiot if you didnt there in the attic with dorothy she genaro your militia question to say then here is a letter from the french king himself king louis the 12th to the gone followed year in the president of the French Republic to signoria and skiing as we have need of must not of. Paint the city of florence and want to make him do something by his own hand we beg you to kindly let it all work for us for a period of time and carry out the what we tend here to do. I think its becoming clear what the french king once lived in order to do if he can have the french screw itself he will have the next best thing a copy on canvas that he can take back to france. And whats interesting about this is that the king doesnt tell the saying your reaction what he would like him to do he is very cagey about the king 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 sized copy was not far fetched later nardo was arguably one of the 1st painters in history who used his studio to make copies of his own works for sale such as the virgin of the rocks painted with his associate umbrella judith platys. The madonna of the yarn winder possibly painted with his pupil francesco spaniel the saint n. Painted with his assistant mel c. And of course the mona lisa painted by his pupil and close companion solomon. That was a good reason for that here in the sometime area of l. A. And that about had a large studio with lots of assistance but he worked 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 of our culture and fashion this is where the world kongs for beauty and refinement but in the 16th century things were 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 but its one thing the 12th thing to the throne friends was a mere shadow of its former self and louis was very much aware that. 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 supper into friends. But if thats true and if a live sized 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 once served as the residence of george dumb was. Just a well. The most important member besides of a king with a 12 or sort of Prime Minister we can underline the fact that he was us powerful as the king ha yeah. Like his master king louis dumb ones was deeply smitten with the beauty of italian art he decided he wanted to build a shock to there was entirely in the renaissance time the 1st one in france and so he brought back orders of italian artists and masons to do just that. But its not enough just went to school like this unfolds to. Sell 2500 restaurants and various lottery. The people of new of the beach came here yeah and what do you do lots of things to degrade our yourself and i miss the most beautiful shot of the sixtys and to reinforce. The fact that they also allowed one of laon erdos leading pupils was working in this chateau around 1509 may be the missing piece of the puzzle. Unfortunately