The Last Supper

religious

Jesus and his disciples take their meal in a room with columns, oil-lamps, a sofa and an amphora that give it a classical feel. A glowing light in the dark background illuminates the Bible. The artist shows the moment at which Christ blesses the bread and wine before his agitated disciples.

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About the Artist

Otto van Veen

1556 – 1629

Flemish painter. From c. 1575 to c. 1580 he was in Italy where he was a pupil of Federico Zuccaro, and after working in various places in Germany and Flanders he settled in Antwerp in 1592. He was an uninspired Mannerist painter, but he had a successful career by modelling his work on Italian masters such as Correggio and Parmigianino (The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine, Musées Royaux, Brussels, 1589). His love of Italian art and his scholarly inclinations (he often Latinized his name to Octavio Vaenius) must have been appreciated by Rubens, who had his final training in van Veen's studio. It was also van Veen who advised Rubens to go to Italy in 1600.

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