The image the viewer is looking at is named “The Last Supper” due to the event this artwork attempts to recreate or resurrect. Examining this artwork in effort to form a valid opinion is a challenge without some background if you are not familiar with the story in the Bible of the last supper. Initially the viewer is commonly interested in the person in the middle of the table with a sort of “glow” surrounding his head, or the reaction of the people sitting around the table who are his disciples or followers. The men depicted in this image are Jesus’s disciples, their positioning as well as the color scheme make it apparent that Jesus has just said something alarming which has made the mood in the room hostile as well as disturbed. 

Beginning with the people at the table, the viewer can obviously tell that the men sitting at the table are confused or completely surprised by what Jesus has just said. It is also very evident that Jesus is the centerpiece of this painting due to the fact that everyone is looking in Jesus’s direction, or the middle of the table. First examine the light beaming on Jesus’s face in the center of the art piece. Signifying that he is viewed in a greater light or that he is of a higher significance. In addition to this Jesus is the only person who isn’t surprised or isn’t making any other gesture rather than calmness. Therefore, making it obvious that Jesus is the centerpiece of the painting. 

Secondly I want to point out the reactions and facial expressions of every person rather than Jesus. Starting from the left to right let’s take a look, the first man on the left is gazing across the table at the grey haired man on the opposite side of the table as if accusing him of being the one to betray Jesus. Moving to the second man on the left, the gesture he is making appears that he is blaming another man across the table who looks as if he is pointing at him. Everyone at the table seems to be flabbergasted, for obvious reasons, none of these men sitting at the table would have ever been thought to betray Jesus. Following Jesus required some if not most of these men to completely give up their lives and careers to do so. 

Moving to the right, lets skip the man in the green and yellow making sort of a “hold it right there” or a “Stop” hand motion. Landing on the man in the half purple and half darker colored cloak, with the pink underlying shirt. This man is also gripping a bag in his right hand. then again this maybe a reference to his part among the 12 disciples as treasurer. He is additionally tipping over the salt; this might be identified with the close Eastern expression to "betray the salt" intending to double-cross one's Master. Continuing this discussion, Judas appears to be the the only individual to have his elbow on the table and his head is likewise on a level plane accompanied by his body depicted in the lowest height of anybody in the artistic creation. Peter looks irate and is holding a blade pointed away from Christ, maybe anticipating his vicious response in Gethsemane amid Jesus' capture. The multi colored jacket that he wears causes the viewer to see two sides, on the one hand it may represent his life following Jesus. Opposing this is the darker side the betrayal, this man happens to be Judas, who was the person to later betray Jesus. Lastly, the bag of silver being grasped in the left hand of Judas also indicates that he was the person to betray Jesus and receive a payoff. Overall every man sitting around the table after Judas looks as if they are completely and utterly disappointed and shocked at what Jesus had just said. 

In a similar manner as different portrayals of the Last Supper from this period, Leonardo situates the persons eating on one side of the table, so that none of them has his back to the viewer. Most past portrayals barred Judas by setting only him on the inverse side of the table from the other eleven devotees and Jesus. Leonardo has Judas recline into shadow. Jesus is anticipating that his deceiver will take the bread in the meantime he does to Saints Thomas and James to one side, who respond with sickening dread as Jesus focuses with his left hand to a bit of bread before them. Diverted by the discussion amongst John and Peter, Judas goes after an alternate bit of bread not seeing Jesus also extending with his right hand towards it. 

In conclusion I finally want to point out the color scheme. For example, the viewer is drawn to the light coming diagonally from the top left of the screen down through Jesus’s head. Next the viewer may not spend too much time on the tablecloth but when looking at this work of art I find a few significant things, one being that its the color white, signifying purity but as the dinner comes to an end the once complete and undisrupted 12 disciples, now has experienced betrayal. Continuing this thought of purity leading into the supper, there is a vase with some sort of a cloth meant for washing feet. This is also another sign of purity, yet Judas’s feet seem to be somewhat dirty in the painting. In closing, the viewer can get the overall depiction of the painting through examining piece by piece the location of items and by using objects to decipher what the artist is “painting a picture of” or the meaning.