The Last Supper

The meal on this wall takes place on the evening before the Crucifixion, and Cosimo Rosselli lets the rest of that night show through the back of the room. Three openings behind the table look out on what comes next, Christ praying in the garden of Gethsemane, his arrest, and the Crucifixion. These small scenes are often credited to Biagio d'Antonio, a Florentine painter working beside him.

At the table the apostles sit around a long U-shaped board, turning to one another and pressing their hands to their chests. Christ has just said that one of them will betray him. A single chalice stands before him. Judas sits alone on the near side, with his back to us, and a small demon perches on his shoulder. On the floor nearby a cat and a dog are fighting.

Painted in 1481 and 1482, this was the last of the Gospel scenes along the wall, the one nearest the entrance. A Latin title on the painted frieze above calls it the restatement of the law of the Gospel by Christ.