COMMENT: Last Supper (Leonardo) Judas - Footnotes

Giampietrino-Last-Supper-ca-1520

The Significance of Various Elements in the Composition of the Painting
Note on Judas.
Michael Ladwein
Leonardo da Vinci – The Last Super
The language and.meaning of gestures ..........
... the ever-long forefinger of Thomas, pointing upwards very striking and energetically, might also be interpreted as indicating that the doubts he experienced regarding Christ's Resurrection could only be overcome by actually touching his wounds John 20,27). This in turn meant that in medieval theology Thomas became the actual witness of the Resurrection, so that his heavenward-pointing finger came to symbolize Christ's Ascension." Peter's right hand, propped on his hip (behind Judas' back) is holding a knife which at first sight can be regarded as a perfectly legitimate item of cutlery. But apart from the fact that it is the only knife in the whole picture, its size and shape also make it appear more like a weapon. Thus it points to the happening a few hours hence when Peter, militantly ready to defend Christ, will cut off the ear of Malchus (while here the ear of .John is willingly turned towards him and that of Judas involuntarily hears his urgent enquiry as to the name of the traitor). Thus the knife becomes in a sense an attribute of Peter.

Apart from Peter, only Judas is holding in his right hand an object open to ambivalent interpretation: the purse full of money (Fig.53).

Judas, Peter, John, 1999 restored
Initially it can be seen as the common purse (John 12,6) which he administers, but we immediately and above all associate it with his traitor's reward of thirty pieces of silver. Moreover, as he recoils vehemently in surprise, he appears inadvertently to upset a salt-cellar. This is a most realistic touch," (15*) for he is symbolically rejecting Christ's promise that he too, like the others, shall be 'the salt of the earth', thus cancelling his links with Christ." (16*)

14 Bernard of Clairvaux, De laudibus Virginis matris, quoted after Steinberg: 'Thomas, at first doubting the truth but then verifying it by touch, thus became the surest witness of the Resurrection.'

15 This is no longer discernible in the original painting but can be seen in copies and engravings (see p.87.) In a passage that evidently refers to Judas, Leonardo's notes reveal that he originally considered showing him overturning a glass of wine. Perhaps finding this idea too obvious, he rejected it in favour of the salt-cellar. Right beside his elbow, as though pushed aside by him, there is a piece of bread. According to Steinberg this could also be interpreted as a rejection of the Eucharist and thus point to antagonism towards Christ.

16 Matthew 5,13; Mark 9,50; Luke 14,34-35; see also R. Steiner From Jesus to Christ; lecture of 12 October 1911, and Cosmic and Human Metamorphoses, lecture of 20 March 1917.

17 F. Rittelmeyer, p.72.