Restoration of Simon
Original Simon head current condition
Simon's head double copy
Windsor castle collection
Simon has a black chalk drawing by Leonardo in the Windsor Castle collection. The expression on Simon's face is truly delicate, and it clearly shows just how wonderful the Last Supper was as depicted by Leonardo.
When Leonardo painted the Last Supper, he made detailed drawings of the faces of these apostles, but unfortunately only five remain today: Judas, Simon, Bartholomew, James the Greater, and Philip. The remaining eight people have not been found.
At first glance, these highly completed drawings seem to match the current mural, but in reality, in most cases, small details have been modified.
Left figure: Comparison with Leonardo's drawing
If you use Leonardo's drawing as is, Simon's line of sight will be slightly upward.
Therefore, if you want to use it in the Last Supper screen, you will need to correct the angle of the face.
Simon's drawing has unusual features among Leonardo's drawings. The difference is that the hair is not drawn with curly hair, but rather with a gentle curve that is almost straight.
Almost all of Leonardo's drawings of people are characterized by the use of curly hair, but this drawing of Simon is the only one that is exceptional.
As far as I know, Simon is the only character whose hair is drawn in this way.
At the time this sketch of Simon was drawn, Leonardo is thought to have already experienced dissection of the human body several times, and his knowledge and experience are reflected in this drawing, resulting in a highly complete portrait. Masu.
Particularly remarkable is the depiction of the muscles and sinews of the human neck, which is not only an accurate depiction, but also a first-class work of art that combines elegance and delicacy.
It is more than just a preparatory drawing for the actual production, and it is possible that the details were completed with the purpose of being viewed on its own.
1, Head restoration
2, Restoration of the Crimson Cloak
3, Restoration of the lower part of the cloak
4, Restoration of white clothes
5, Restoration of hands and feet
One thing that can be noticed from the restoration of the head is that in the current mural, Simon's head seems to be slightly wider in the horizontal direction.
Drawings by Leonardo and contemporary reproductions of the Last Supper suggest that Simon's head was somewhat slender, as in the original.
Similarly, regarding the restoration of the cloak, I feel that there is too much volume towards the right in the mural. The depiction of the cloak, which is too large, feels a little out of balance with the person.
In the restoration of the lower part of the cloak, the condition of the mural is so poor that it is impossible to guess what the original depiction was. For this reason, the restoration work was carried out with reference to reproductions from the same period.
There is not enough information left on the current walls regarding the restoration of the hands and feet.
The only saving grace is that the positional relationship can be identified.
Regarding the position of the hands and feet, it is considered that the position of the mural generally indicates the position at the time of creation.
Restoration of color
The goal of the recent restoration was to remove all of the additions made by Leonardo and return it as much as possible to the Last Supper as painted by Leonardo.
However, when all the later additions are removed, the layer of drawing created by Leonardo himself has already been lost, and all that remains is the base and undercoat, which is the final drawing. The reality is that the layer has already been lost.
Therefore, the Last Supper that can now be seen in Milan is completely different from the Last Supper that Leonardo painted.
What is especially striking is its color. Leonardo never in his life completed his works in the pale pastel colors that we see today. The reason why the current mural appears to be finished in pale colors is because conservators filled in areas where the drawing layer was completely missing by hatching them with neutral watercolor pigments. .
Without this supplementary part, it would be almost impossible to tell what was painted on the mural.
The reality is that most of what tourists see in Milan today is not Leonardo's Last Supper, but the Last Supper of the restorers.
Simon's cloak
In Simon's case, the most important part of color restoration is the color of his cloak.
It has been reported that Leonardo has traces of using lake-based pigments in this area.
Lake pigments can produce brilliant, vivid colors that cannot be expressed with other pigments, but their drawback is that they tend to fade easily.
In the end, it becomes almost transparent, and the color tone may be completely different from the artist's original goal.
When restoring Simon's cloak, we tried to recreate the colors while imagining that a lake-based pigment was applied on top of the existing colors to understand what the colors Leonardo was aiming for. I'm going to go.
In my case, when restoring Simon's cloak, I refrained from emphasizing it with lake-based pigments and instead used red, which has a proven track record of being used in Leonardo's works. This is because I judged that pushing too much of the lake-like red to the front would disrupt the harmony of the entire screen.
Leonardo's favorite lake pigments are always a big problem when restoring The Last Supper.
Left figure: Mural under the table
The pattern of the tablecloth is relatively well preserved, but the important details of Simon's feet and the legs of the table are only outlines, and the details appear to have been lost.
However, I realized that even the part that looks like the outline of the foot was actually added by the restorer, and there was no remaining drawing layer along the outline.
In reality, it's just scattered fragments that can't be discerned.
The current situation is that it can no longer be called a painting.
In restoring the foot, the most important reference was the right foot of Saint Anne and the Virgin Mary in the Louvre.
If you flip Maria's right foot left and right, it will look very similar to Simon's left foot, which will be very helpful when drawing the fingers.
The wood grain and other details on the legs of the table are drawn with precision, and there are parts that are reminiscent of the detailed drawings unique to the Flemish region.
It is highly likely that this was not a drawing by Leonardo himself, but was created by painters from Milan.
Comparison with replication
The gigantic Last Supper tapestry in the Vatican collection contains a depiction of the lower part of Simon's cloak, making it an extremely valuable resource.
This part is often cropped and omitted in most reproductions, and even if it is drawn, the depiction is often vague and unclear, making it useless as a reference.
Even in the reproduction of Giampietrino's painting held at the Royal Academy in London, this part is omitted and cannot be used as a reference.
Therefore, the Vatican tapestry is the most important material when restoring Simon's cloak.
In the Vatican tapestry, a large cloak hangs over the bench where Simon is sitting, and the cloak, once folded above it, hangs further down. In this way, in the Vatican tapestry, the shape of the bench beneath the cloak is hinted at.
Left image: Part of a huge tapestry owned by the Vatican
This tapestry is extremely large and close to actual size.
4.9 meters high (16 feet) and 9 meters long (29.5 feet)
It is a work with an overwhelming presence even in the Vatican Museums.
In terms of embroidery, it is inferior to other reproductions in terms of descriptive power, but it is a very valuable document because of the amount of information it contains due to its size and the intention of producing it to faithfully reproduce the original.
Tapestry depiction
What I am most interested in in the Vatican tapestry is the depiction of the tapestry in the background of Simon.
Of all the reproductions of the Last Supper currently available, this tapestry has the most Leonardo-like feel.
The black background is filled with countless flowers spreading freely. It has been confirmed through the recent restoration process that this screen composition was originally a depiction of the Last Supper.
Giampietrino's reproduction is the same in that it depicts countless bright flowers on a black background, but the depiction is stylized and regularly arranged, giving it a somewhat Leonardo-like feel. There isn't.
Although this depiction of the Vatican tapestry cannot be said to be exactly the same as Leonardo's depiction of the Last Supper, its overall atmosphere is very interesting.
http://leonardoresearch.jp/ August 13 2014
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