The Last Supper and what happened to the 12 Disciples
One of most famous and iconics artworks next to the Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci depicted the scene of Jesus' final lunch with his apostles in a mural painting titled "The Last Supper," which is taken from the Gospel of John.
The church and convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy, were being renovated when Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, ordered it.
The portrayal depicts the apostles' responses to Jesus' announcement that one of them will betray him. On gesso, pitch, and mastic, the painting's dimensions are approximately 15 feet by 29 feet. It was painted with tempera. The painting also uses the linear perspective which utilises a vanishing point at the horizon line outside of the building where the supper is being held and a 3D look to the room. Jesus is the focal point of the image as he is at the vanishing point of the painting which separates him between his apostles psychologically, physically and in a perspective point of
view.
The picture was created by Leonardo da Vinci between 1495 and 1498.
The last restoration attempt on the picture was finished in 1999 after several attempts. Titanic and The Great Gatsby star Leonardo DiCaprio was named after Leonardo Da Vinci when he kicked his mother for the first time in the womb while his mother was viewing The Last Supper in Florence, Italy.
what happened to the 12 Disciples
Peter (technically 3 left of Christ but pokes in his head between John the Apostle and Judas so he is 2): while Paul is not a featured in The Last Supper as he wasn't a disciple, Peter is. The second person to the left of the first Pope of the Catholic Church so he was crucified upside down in Rome. As for Paul who was initially a Roman executioner, it is generally agreed that he was beheaded in Rome for being a Christian and was martyred on account of its faith. A promise made by Jesus that involved Peter being bestowed the keys of Heaven spawned our general image of Peter being the gatekeeper of Heaven, checking to see if the dearly departed can enter or not.
The first person to the left of Christ is John. Not to be confused with John the Baptist, this John has been identified as various different Johns like John of Patmos (so called as he spent some time on the Greek Island of Patmos) and John the Gospel Writer who wrote the book of Revelations (the Jehovah's Witnesses' favourite book). It's believed that he is the only one of the Twelve Apostles have died of old age.
You probably noticed that Judas (technically 2nd left of Christ if not for Peter butting in) disappears after Jesus was arrested and that's because he died. Identified in the court in the painting as the one who spilt the salt, Judas was handed his 12 pieces of silver only to realise that his action was of betrayal which caused a great deal of guilt that caused him to die by his own hand. He is now seen as a traitor.
Andrew (4th figure left of JC) continued to preach Christ's words throughout the Middle East and Europe only to be arrested in Greece. Feeling unworthy to be crucified on a Latin cross like Jesus, Andrew was crucified on a saltire (x-shaped cross). His bones spent some time in Scotland centuries after death which influenced his patronage to Scotland.
Bartholomew (6th person left of JC): Bartholomew had the upmost grizzliest of deaths out of the Apostles! As in he was skinned alive via an execution method before being beheaded in Armenia. He is depicted in Michaelangelo's Last Judgement fresco in the Sistine Chapel clutching onto this flayed skin. Can't blame you for feeling uneasy after that.
James, son of Zebedee (2nd person to the right of JC): this James was the first of the 12 Apostles to be martyred, just a mere 11 years after the Crucifixion. One of the twelve apostles of Jesus was James the Great. He was recognized as being in Jesus' inner group and the only apostle whose martyrdom is mentioned in the New Bible, according to Britannica (Acts 12:2). He popularized Christianity through preaching in Spain. He was put to death by Herod when he got back to Judea. Afterwards, his remains were transported to Compostela, a well-known Medieval Ages pilgrimage site.
James the less (5th person left to Christ): He was referred to as "The Just One" in Jerusalem because of his consistency in prayer and the fervor with which he lived out his faith. He abstained from eating meat, wearing anything ostentatious, drinking wine, and shaving his head. He prayed for so long that his knees developed thick calluses and a camel-like appearance. The growing number of people who were beginning to think that Jesus was the Christ alarmed the leaders in Jerusalem. James was asked to dispute this assertion; nevertheless, he refused and was stoned. Finally, a club was used to strike him in the head, killing him, and a saw was used to dismember his body. Because pharmacists use a pestle, which looks like a club, he is their patron saint. This James is the namesake for St James' Park in London and he was depicted as a robot in an episode of Futurama (Season 6 episode 5).
Thomas (1st person to the right of JC): Thomas was not done doubting miracles after the resurrection of Christ as when the Virgin Mary died and was assumed into heaven, Thomas received Mary's girdle which was dropped from the heavens. This relic is called the Girdle of Thomas and is said to be in the care of Prato Cathedral in Tuscany, Italy with its veneration being a help to the local expecting mothers. As for Thomas, he went on to preach along the Middle East like Syria but his life came to an end in what we now know as India in south Asia. It was there in the city of Chennai that he was killed by a spear and buried in nearby Mylapore. Thomas the Apostle was later made the patron saint of India.
Phillip (3rd right of Christ): According to the New Testament, Philip the Apostle was one of Jesus' twelve apostles. According to later Christian sources, Philip was an apostle who travelled to Greece, Syria, and Phrygia (located in what is now Turkiye) to preach. He may have had a significant ministry in Asia Minor and in North Africa's Carthage, where he won the heart of a Roman proconsul's wife. The proconsul had Philip imprisoned and brutally executed as vengeance.
Matthew (4th person to the right of JC): again, this is a different Matthew to the gospel writer. This man was initially a tax collector before becoming a disciple to Jesus Christ. He went on to spread the gospel in a pre-Islam Saudi Arabia, Armenia and India but was martyred in Ethiopia while preaching when killed a swordsman sent by the Ethiopian King Egippus.
Simon the Zealot (6th person to the right of JC): Simon went off to Persia (what is now Iran) to minister there and spread the gospel. He died in the pre-Islam kingdom when he refused to make a sacrifice to the sun god that was praised there which saw him being sawed in half.
Jude (5th person to the right of Christ): the patron saint of lost causes, poor Jude has been forgotten as his name sounds similar to Judas even though he can also be identified by the names Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus. It is generally believed Jude was martyred in Armenia. The canonical Letter of Jude, which forewarns against licentious and blasphemous heretics, is attributed to him.