Leonardo: The Last Supper

Rating:
Summary: Superb effort
Review: For those who are interested in the highly controversial world of art conservation/restoration, this book is a must. For the first time in English, we have an in-depth account of the 20-plus year intervention on Leonardo's masterpiece, the Last Supper. The project, applauded by some and decried by many, is documented here with hundreds of color illustrations and an essay by the chief conservator of the project. This is largely the Italians' point of view, which is highly controversial. But as the English-language editors say in their preface, it is important that all informed voices be heard in the debate as to the originality of Leonardo's hand and just what sort of intervention was appropriate to this situation.

Rating:
Summary: definitive and exquisite!
Review: The focus of this book is the controversial restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, an icon of Renaissance art and a fresco that was in trouble from the time Leonardo painted it using nontraditional fresco techniques. The difficulty of the restoration just completed lay in the problems of the original, which began to flake and and self-destruct soon after its completion. A number of attempts at restoration over the past several hundred years resulted in the destruction and/or replacement of a good deal of the original, and the contemporary restoration was an attempt to undo past mistakes and reveal as much as possible of the remaining original while preserving the piece. The extraordinary color images in this book depict virtually every square inch of the fresco before, during, and after the just-completed restoration. It is the best documentation we will ever have of a remarkable work and the struggle to keep it from vanishing.