The Institution of the Eucharist

Eleonora of Aragon, Duchess of Ferrara, died in October 1493. She had been especially devoted to Corpus Christi, the body of Christ present in the bread of the Mass, and the altarpiece this panel came from may have been made in her memory, probably for the church of San Domenico in Ferrara. The panel sat at the centre of its predella, the painted strip beneath the main picture, and it had a second job. Technical study found a hole on its left side, probably for a key, so this Last Supper was also the door of a small cupboard that held the consecrated host. At the middle of the table Christ raises a white wafer and blesses it. Around it Ercole de' Roberti painted the carafes of red wine, the clear glasses and the broken morsels of bread like a tiny still life.