"The Last Supper" Foods Deciphered?

It's certainly not ham - biblically proscribed as "unclean," which is what I stuff myself with every Easter!  By the way, the painting depicted to the right is de la Roca's "Last Supper," not Da Vinci's famous painting - but notice the foods/beverages on the table.

Public release date: 30-Mar-2010
Contact: Sylvain-Jacques Desjardins
sylvain-jacques.desjardins@umontreal.ca
514-343-7593
University of Montreal

Leonardo Da Vinci's 'The Last Supper' reveals more secrets
Universite de Montreal researchers decode food served in legendary painting
Montreal, March 30, 2010 – The Last Supper – relentlessly studied, scrutinized, satirized and one the world's most famous paintings – is still revealing secrets. Researchers Olivier Bauer, Nancy Labonté, Jonas Saint-Martin and Sébastien Fillion of the Université de Montréal Faculty of Theology have found new meaning to the food depicted by Leonardo Da Vinci's famous artwork.

"We asked ourselves why Da Vinci chose those particular foods, because they don't correspond to what the Evangelists described," says Bauer. "Why bread, fish, salt, citrus and wine? Why is the saltshaker tipped over in front of Judas? Why is the bread leavened?"

The four researchers don't buy into the farfetched hypotheses introduced by Dan Brown in his best-selling book, The Da Vinci Code, yet they agree the artist included symbols and commentary in his depiction. He purposely attempted to confuse and fool the observer with contradictory symbols and double-meanings.

For instance, a fallen saltshaker is traditionally a sign of bad luck. The researchers question if instead of indicating the mischief of Judas, the fallen saltshaker could suggest his rehabilitation. He could have been chosen to play the role of the traitor. And why is he the only one with an empty plate? It could mean he is full and mischievous or that he is the only one who isn't fooled?

The fish has also been the topic of several studies. It is clearly a reminder that Jesus spent most of his life around Lake Tiberias and that he selected his Apostles among local fishermen. Yet it isn't clear whether the fish is herring or eel. Some argue Da Vinci was deliberately ambiguous about the species of fish. Eel in Italian is aringa, although when it is spelled arringa it means indoctrination. And herring in northern Italy is renga, meaning he who denies religion.

The painting continues to fascinate and mystify. Its restoration, which took place between 1979 and 1999, has brought to light new details that along with new technology has spurred a new wave of research and interpretation of one of the world's most famous artworks.

Still on Vacation

My ankles are swollen, a sure sign of high humidity and even higher dewpoint. Relief is forecasted on the way by this evening, when the wind is supposed to shift around to the northwest and blow cooler and, more importantly, drier air, this way. We did finally get much needed rain, though, some on Wednesday night and some last night. We went to Chicago yesterday and I'm as red as a lobster today and I think my hair is two shades lighter! It wasn't supposed to be sunny - hah! On the other hand, it was worth taking some extra abuse from the sun while on the architectural tour via boat on the Chicago River. Isis treated us and it was not only informative, it was breathaking in parts. The architectural mix in Chicago is astounding. Chicago passed a law a few years back and so new developments along the river need to be set back from the bank a minimum of 30 feet and public access walkways and greenery have to be added. We saw the Trump tower project going up, and saw where the ground has been broken for what will be Chicago's tallest skyscraper, a design by Calatrava. We spent some time in Millennium Park, lunched at the Castle & Elephant (yummy burgers!) and rode the escalators up and down at Marshall Fields (it will NEVAH be Macy's to me). I won't be back to work until Tuesday. Here's an interesting article on Da Vinci's "Last Supper" from the International Harold Tribune: Experts skeptical on claim of new discovery in Da Vinci's "Last Supper" July 25, 2007 MILAN, Italy: A computer analyst claimed Wednesday to have discovered new images in Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper," one of the world's best-loved religious paintings. But some experts were skeptical, dismissing the claim as another spin-off of Dan Brown's best-selling novel "The Da Vinci Code." Slavisa Pesci claims to have discovered new images in the 15th mural in the dining hall of Milan's Santa Maria delle Grazie church by superimposing a reverse image on the original image. When doing so, Pesci said he observed, for example, that the two figures on either end of the long table appear to become knights, and that another figure appears to be holding an infant. "It came to mind to scan "The Last Supper" and print it on transparent paper, then superimpose it in reverse on the original image: the result is a new painting, with other figures," Pesci told a news conference.Pesci assigned no meaning to the images, saying he was not an art historian, but suggested it might have reflected Da Vinci's well-known interest in mathematics. But Alessandro Vezzosi, a Leonardo expert and the director of a museum dedicated to the artist in his hometown of Vinci, was skeptical, saying "The Last Supper" was so degraded by time that it was difficult to draw any new conclusions. While he had not yet seen the presentation, he noted that computers lend themselves to any conceivable alterations and that some have inaccurately held that Da Vinci's famed "Mona Lisa" is actually a self-portrait. "I don't like to be negative, because I admire discoveries reached scientifically," Vezzosi said. "If this computer analyst did not make a historic discovery, I hope he created something artistically beautiful." Indeed, reinterpretations of the painting have been sprung up ever since "The Da Vinci Code" fascinated readers and movie-goers with suggestions that one of the apostles sitting on Jesus' right is Mary Magdalene, that the two had a child and that their bloodline continues.