The pictures depict life size fragments of the Last Supper, revealing details that are not easily seen at a distance: the brightness of the colours, the contrasting lights of the faces, each person's expression, the traces of varnish and gilding, the exquisite details of the still life. In 1999 the twenty year-long restoration project to clean the painting from previous restorations came to an end, and to this day the masterpiece's extraordinary perfection still captures the spectator's attention, according to Pietro C. Marani in his new critique of the painting.
To mark the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death, this book, bound in paperback, reviews Antonio Quattrone’s 1999 photographic collection focusing on the end of the twenty year-long restoration project. The pictures show the painting at different distances, progressively closer, from full pictures to small details and the life size reproduction of small fragments, made recognizable by the lack of margin on the page. The pictures in the book, which offer a close up look of the painting which would not be possible in person, generate a sense of wonder that can only be matched by seeing the painting in real life.