Last Supper, after Leonardo da Vinci, tapestry, Vatican Pinacoteca

In the Vatican Museums there is a tapestry after the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci in Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.

It was probably wooven in the Flanders between 1508 and 1511 from the cartoon of Leonardo himself under his supervision at the time of Francis I.

In 1532 Pope Clement VII celebrated the wedding between Caterina de’ Medici – his niece – and Enric II, son of Francis I. As wedding gift the Pope donated them a unicorn horn – simbol of chastity and purity – nestled in a golden base. Francis I, to return the unexpected present, identified in his collection this tapestry, modified it adding a velvet and golden frame, removed in 1825, and donated it to the Pope.

This is the reason why we see now this masterpiece in the Vatican Pinacoteca in the same room where Raffaello’s one are displayed.

Bibliography: Sabrina Sforza Galitzia, Il Cenacolo di Leonardo in Vaticano, LEV, CdV 2009 (image taken from this book)