Marcos Zapata's Last Supper: A Feast of European Religion and Andean Culture

摘要

The viewer of Marcos Zapata's 1753 painting of the Last Supper (in the Cathedral of Santo Domingo, commonly known as the Cathedral of Cuzco, in Cuzco, Peru) gradually becomes aware of an anomaly. Within the history of art the Last Supper is hardly a surprising choice of subject matter, and owing to its array of precedents, Zapata's composition features many of the expected elements. Christ is in the center, flanked by his twelve, mostly devoted, apostles. Standing slightly higher than them, he wearsa distinguishing halo, and his fingers are arranged in the sign of benediction. The men are clothed in heavy robes that feature a lot of reds, a hue common to painting in Cuzco, and all but one of them bend toward Christ.