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Other Frescoes

Other Frescoes

The Last Supper

c.1853-1876

Albumen print | RCIN 854065

A photograph of an engraving of the fresco of the Last Supper, thought to have been executed by Perugino, on the wall of the refectory (now museum) of the former Convent of Fuligno in Florence and traditionally dated c.1493-1496.

Ruland (1876) notes that this is "a unique and old engraving in the Ducal Collection at Gotha, probably after the original cartoon, and with an entirely different background". This is an engraving on two sheets printed from two plates, which, according to Hind, in 1938 was in the Knoedler Collection, previously in the Gotha collection. Apparently, the only complete surviving impression is now in the Cleveland Museum of Art, while the British Museum holds the right half of the sheet. The engraver, identified by Hind as Lucantonio degli Uberti, did not depict the Agony in the Garden in the background; behind the Apostles, he added lower arches and a frieze of eagles, as well as altering some of the Apostles' names and their positions. At both ends of the bench, Uberti engraved two reliefs representing a knight with his squire (at the left), and the Arrest of Christ (at the right). On the left relief, the inscription on the scroll has variously been read as "LUC..TNO" (to be linked to the engraver) or as "RVGINO" (which would allude to Perugino). See Bibliographic References.

The fresco – which also depicts the scene of the Agony in the Garden in the background – was discovered in the 19th century and initially attributed to Raphael, but now it is believed to be by Pietro Perugino. A number of scholars debated the involvement of the workshop in this fresco and the date it was executed. In a recent exhibition catalogue, Padovani attributed the fresco to Perugino, describing the involvement of the workshop as secondary and minimal and dating the decoration towards the end of the 1470s, before the frescoes executed by Perugino in the Sistine Chapel (c.1481-1482). See Bibliographic References.

Ruland (1876) notes that the fresco was "in the former Nunnery of S. Onofrio, now in the Egyptian Museum, Florence". In 1855, the rooms of the Convent were used to accommodate the Egyptian Museum, which was later moved to its current location in Palazzo della Crocetta.
  • Acquired for the Prince Consort's Raphael Collection (c.1853-1876)