The Last Supper

Maker:: Fra Damiano da Bergamo (Damiano di Antoniolo de Zambelli) (ca. 1480–1549) and his workshop

Designer:: Jacopo [Giacomo] Barozzi da Vignola

Date:: 1548

Culture:: Italian, Bologna

Medium:: Intarsia

Dimensions:: H. 60 3/4 x W. 40 7/8 in. (154.3 x 103.8 cm)

Classification:: Woodwork

Credit Line:: Gift of the children of Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney, 1942

Accession Number:: 42.57.4.108

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 502

Commissioned by Claude d'Urfé, Ambassador of the King of France to the Council of Trent. Executed by Fra Damiano da Bergamo and his assistants in the Convent of San Domenico at Bologna, and set up in the Chapel of the Château de la Bastie d'Urfé, near Lyons.

The altarpiece, representing the Last Supper, is signed by Fra Damiano and dated 1548. It was designed by Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola.

The inlaid panels show architectural views, still lifes, landscapes, sacred subjects and ornamental patterns.

The carved cartouches display the cipher of Claude d'Urfé and his wife, Jeanne de Balzac, the Eucharistic sacrificial lamb, adopted as an emblem by Claude d'Urfé, and various Trinitarian symbols. The design of these cartouches was also probably due to Vignola.

The inscription running around the wainscoting is based upon the words of the Eucharistic hymn of Saint Thomas Aquinas. It indicates that the Chapel was dedicated to the Holy Sacrament as well as to the Trinity.

Signature: Signed and dated on riser of step at bottom: FRATER DAMIANVS CONVERSVS BERGOMAS OR/ DINIS PRAEDICATORVM FACIEBAT . M. D. XLVIII

Inscription: On cartouche on front of table: HOC EST COR/PVS MEVM (translation: This is my Body)

Claude d'Urfé , Château de la Bastie d'Urfé, near Montbrison, , St. Étienne-le-Molard (Loire), France; Château de la Bâstie d'Urfe (until 1874) ; Émile Peyre , Paris (until ca. 1904) ; Harry Payne Whitney , New York ; children of Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney (until 1942; to MMA)

Timelines
Venice and Northern Italy, 1400–1600 A.D.
Venice and Northern Italy, 1400–1600 A.D.

"'Handelar's Black Choir' from Château to Mansion": Metropolitan Museum Journal, v. 44 (2009)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 4, The Renaissance in Italy and Spain

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts (42,434)

Artist / Maker / Culture

Fra Damiano da Bergamo (Damiano di Antoniolo de Zambelli) (4)

Jacopo [Giacomo] Barozzi da Vignola (45)

Object Type / Material

Geographic Location

Date / Era

A.D. 1400–1600 (26,339)

Chapel from Le Château de la Bastie d'Urfé

Artist: Fra Damiano da Bergamo (Damiano di Antoniolo de Zambelli) (ca. 1480–1549) and his workshop Date: ca. 1547–48 Medium: Walnut and intarsia of various woods Accession: 42.57.4.1–.108 On view in:Gallery 502

Wainscoting from the Château de la Bâstie d'Urfé

Artist: Fra Damiano da Bergamo (Damiano di Antoniolo de Zambelli) (ca. 1480–1549) and his workshop Date: ca. 1547–48 Medium: Walnut and other woods Accession: 42.57.4.14–.19 On view in:Gallery 502

The Finding of Moses

Artist: Jacopo [Giacomo] Barozzi da Vignola (Italian, Vignola 1507–1573 Rome) Date: 16th century Medium: Wood Accession: 12.130.2 On view in:Gallery 503

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

Date: 1547 Medium: Walnut and other woods Accession: 42.57.4.35 On view in:Gallery 502

The Farnese Table

Artist: Designed by Jacopo [Giacomo] Barozzi da Vignola (Italian, Vignola 1507–1573 Rome) Date: ca. 1565–73 Medium: Marble of different colors, semiprecious stones, Egyptian alabaster, residue of paint of different colors on the piers Accession: 58.57a–d On view in:Gallery 503