'Da Vinci Code' Readers Flock to Milan's Last Supper
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'Da Vinci Code' Readers Flock to Milan's Last Supper
Wed Sep 8, 2004 10:29 AM ET
By Christian Plumb
MILAN, Italy (Reuters) - The guide ushering tourists into the former monks'
dining hall that houses Leonardo da Vinci's faded masterpiece "The Last
Supper" tried in vain to interest her audience in art history, technique and
aesthetics.
She knew that sooner or later the questions -- about the Holy Grail's
presence or absence from the work, or the real sex of the disciple to the
right of Christ -- would come.
"Of course, you know there is now 'The Da Vinci Code'," Danish-born
interpreter Hanne Munk told the guide at the end of her 15-minute viewing of
the 30-foot-long painting, famed for its psychological realism and
innovative use of perspective.
The guide, Lidia Sanvito, nodded wearily. The 34-year-old has heard of
little else since U.S. author Dan Brown's runaway bestseller was published
in March 2003, first from American readers, then starting late last year,
from Italians and others as foreign translations hit bookstores worldwide.
"They torture me," she said of the curious visitors. "I wasn't surprised
about the Americans. But it really did shock me that Italians, with their
strong Catholic traditions, would also ask these questions."
Few who visit the 500-year-old painting have not heard of the book. Many
visitors nowadays admit the sensational tale of scheming priests, secret
societies and pagan symbols was the main reason for their visit to Santa
Maria delle Grazie church, on an otherwise quiet street in Italy's business
capital.
"The Last Supper" has always been a top tourist draw in a city whose
artistic treasures pale beside those of Rome, Venice and Florence. Even in
August, when a mass holiday exodus leaves Milan virtually deserted, the
small square outside the church bustles with activity.
'REQUIRED READING'
A "sold out" sign hangs on the ticket office door, though admission to the
painting has long been by reservation only.
Sanvito reminds visitors that Leonardo painted onto a dry wall, meaning
Brown was wrong to describe the work as a fresco, which are done on wet
plaster and tend to age better.
Just 25 people at a time are allowed to visit the work, whose once vibrant
colors took Leonardo four years to complete and started deteriorating 20
years later, triggering a long series of attempts to preserve and restore
it.
The painting has endured indignities ranging from a widening of the door in
the wall it occupies -- eliminating Christ's feet -- to a 1943 bombing raid
that felled one of the walls of the refectory but miraculously spared
Leonardo's work.
"The museum has seen renewed interest from people curious about seeing the
masterwork for themselves since the book became an international hit," said
Giuseppe Napoleone, the state-appointed director of the exhibit.
"Working at the Last Supper and showing it to visitors, (the book) has
become almost required reading for staff," he said. "More than ever they are
asking which figure is John's, and about the V shape formed between his body
and Christ's."
The book says the effeminate apostle next to Jesus is not John at all, but
actually Mary Magdalene who was secretly Christ's wife and the mother of his
child, and that the V shape is a symbol for the Holy Grail, the "sacred
feminine."
HIDDEN CLUES
"The Da Vinci Code" is a modern-day quest for the Grail, the chalice from
which Jesus and his disciples are said to have drunk at the Last Supper. The
book argues that the Grail and Mary Magdalene were actually one and the
same.
Brown portrays "The Last Supper," as well as the Mona Lisa and other works
by Leonardo, as brimming over with clues which his heroes use to unravel the
truth about the Grail and its elite guardians.
The Milan painting is one of several tourist sites worldwide to reap the
benefits, including the Louvre in Paris, where guides are also constantly
asked about the novel and firms have created tours tailor-made for fans.
"John looks a little bit feminine," Sanvito tells a group of South African
high school students, pointing out that there is no shortage of androgynous
young men in Renaissance art. "He was a young man."
That does not discourage fans of the book, which has sold more than 10
million copies worldwide.
"I think (the book) is actually very believable," said one of the students,
15-year old Victoria Sinton of Johannesburg. "We did try to ask (the guide)
about the Holy Grail, but she didn't understand what we were saying."
Others were more skeptical, but still curious.
"I look at the painting and I see John, I don't buy it," said John, a
30-year-old salesman from Pennsylvania, who had read not only the novel but
a book-length analysis called "Cracking the Code."
"Fiction gives an author a lot of liberty to rewrite history," he said.