The Last Supper

The museum identifies this canvas with a Last Supper that the Venetian nobleman Battista Erizzo commissioned from Bassano in 1546 and finished paying for by early 1548. The table looks like a crowded country meal. The apostles are ordinary men with weathered faces, their bare feet showing under the tablecloth. At the centre Christ rests a hand on the young apostle John, who has fallen asleep with his head on his crossed arms. On the platter in front of them lies a lamb's head, the Passover meal. Judas sits on the far side of the table from Christ, where tradition placed him, with the purse of 30 pieces of silver and a cat at his feet. On the floor in front stand a jug and a shining metal basin, with a dog curled up beside them.