Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Da Vinci's Last Supper


The next time you see Da Vinci's painting of the last supper; take a closer look. The shape and design of the table is Medieval and not correct for the time and culture of Messiah. It is no stretch of the imagination to detect all the people appear to be Caucasian. An observant eye will also notice that there are no prayer shawls or a tallit visible, or much of anything else that is Jewish in appearance.
According to the Bible, there could have been fifteen or more people present; (Mark 14:19, 20) but the painting only shows thirteen. Technically, it was not His last supper, it was the Passover meal. The gospels relay the Lord ate meals or suppers after His resurrection too.
Let's look at the most glaring discrepancies displayed in this famous painting. If it was the Passover meal, look at the food on the dishes. There should be roast lamb for the meal, but Da Vinci's artwork displays fish on the plates. If it was the Passover meal, the bread would have been unleavened, like a big flat saltine cracker. But the artist pictured puffy bread rolls made with yeast or leaven on the table.
The painting appears to have a nimbus or a halo around the Lord's head, which originates from a pagan symbol of sun-god worship. Da Vinci used these to identify holy people in many of his paintings.
It is probably true that Da Vinci used townspeople to pose for the different faces in the painting, which would be why they appear to be European and do not look Jewish. But it may be only a rumor that the person who posed for Jesus' face, was the same one who also posed for Judas' face.
I also noticed Da Vinci's paintings usually portray angels with wings. Most people think that angels have wings because of all the pictures, paintings, movies and Valentine cards we see today.
As I researched all the Bible references, they have angels appearing in male form, but never in a female form. They are spirit beings that take human form, have male names, but are never described with wings. Would a spirit need wings to fly?
Cherubim are not little fat babies with wings and a bow. They are described by Ezekiel as being ten cubits tall with four faces, four wings and a ten cubit wing span. (Eze. 10:1-22) They have a semblance of human hands, feet like a calf and a sparkling wheel within a wheel that seems to accompany them wherever they go. (Eze. 1:5-25) These creatures are not called angels.
Seraphim are beings described by Isaiah as having six wings and flying around the throne of the Lord saying, holy, holy, holy. (Is. 6:1-3) John describes six winged ones as covered with eyes and having four faces. (Rev. 4:6-10) These beings are not called angels either.
So, it turns out the common depiction of big fluffy feathery wings on angels comes more from imagination and artistic license than from any information the Bible actually provides.

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