Picture Study: The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci & One-point Perspective

S. Maria delle Grazie, Milan

We looked at Da Vinci's The Last Supper. We first enjoyed looking at the different faces of Jesus and the apostles. Then we looked at the details of the tablecloth, the folds of the robes and the architecture.

 We noticed the ways in which Jesus is the focus of the picture. First we noticed all the ways in which the arms, hands and poses point toward Him.

We decided to make a model of it using the print-outs here.  While doing this, they were able to notice more details of the painting. We had good conversations about how they are grouped together and their body language and what they might mean.

One-point Perspective in The Last Supper

Then we noticed how the architectural features -the ceiling, windows and the table -all slant to the center.

This is called One-point perspective.

This is when there is one point that all the lines in the picture converge, called the vanishing point. We chose this time for the boys to work on the worksheet on this from their History Portfolios.

If you would like to practice One-Point Perspective, you can go to Smart Class or Art Projects for Kids.