Full title | The Institution of the Eucharist |
---|---|
Artist | Ercole de' Roberti |
Artist dates | active 1479; died 1496 |
Series | Two Panels from a Predella |
Date made | probably 1490s |
Medium and support | Egg on wood |
Dimensions | 29.8 x 21 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1882 |
Inventory number | NG1127 |
Location | Room 54 |
Art route(s) | A |
Collection | Main Collection |
Jesus sits at the head of the table, surrounded by his disciples, holding up a piece of bread, which he blesses: this is the Last Supper. Ercole’s skill at painting detail on a small scale is clear: each disciple has a different facial expression, and the transparent glasses, the carafes and the morsels of bread on the table are painted like a tiny still life.
This small panel has an unusual dual function. It was the central panel of a predella – the lowest part of an altarpiece – but evidence of a keyhole suggests that it was also the door of a hidden container housing the bread eaten at Mass. The image is appropriate for such a container, often known as a tabernacle, because at the Last Supper Jesus taught his disciples to eat bread and wine in memory of him, a rite that later became the Eucharist, or Holy Communion. To the panel’s right was Ercole’s The Israelites gathering Manna.
This panel formed the centre of a predella – the lowest part of an altarpiece – which was probably made for the church of San Domenico, Ferrara. It was positioned beneath a large image of the dead Christ lying on his mother’s lap, and to its right was The Israelites gathering Manna.
The bread, which Christ holds in his hand and blesses, is the focus of this picture. We see the Last Supper, when Christ dined with his disciples and asked them to eat bread and drink wine – his body and his blood – in remembrance of him. He also told them of his imminent death: he knew that one of them would betray him. As he speaks, the disciples pray, some with eyes closed, while others look up to heaven. Only one figure breaks the peaceful symmetry of the scene: sitting on the far right, Judas, scowling, looks away from Christ. He places his hand on the bench as though he is about to push himself up and rush off – Ercole’s way of showing that he was the one who would betray Christ.
Technical analysis has revealed that there was once a hole in the left hand side of the panel. This was probably a keyhole, and the picture a door of a cupboard which contained the bread (the host) eaten at Mass. This function explains the depiction of the Last Supper and the panel’s unusual vertical shape; predella panels were usually horizontal. The image of the dead Christ on the main panel of the altarpiece was intended to focus prayer on Christ’s body and suffering, so it was suitable for the altarpiece to house the host. The altarpiece may have been made to commemorate Eleonora of Aragon, the Duchess of Ferrara, who was particularly devoted to the worship of the host as well as meditation upon Christ’s suffering (known as his Passion).
Ercole was the court painter at Ferrara. This panel reveals the precision and skill that probably earned him the job. He painted with the detail of a miniaturist and here, in a small scale, he has created a scene that is both intimate and grand. Tabernacles that contained the host were very often sculpted from marble; some resembled miniature classical-style buildings, with carved pillars and triangular pediments (roofs). Ercole recreates these decorative and architectural details in paint, which allows him to create a richly coloured scene. The pink and grey marble paving slabs in front of the table invite us into the scene, while the depth of the archway that crowns Christ’s head like a semi-circular halo hints at mystery – perhaps that of transubstantiation, the belief in the transformation of the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood at the Eucharist.
The coloured marble is painted to look as though it is carved with images. Although they are quite faint, figures to the left of the violet pilasters could be shepherds adoring the Christ Child in a nativity scene. Above Christ’s head, the gilded relief in the lunette shows a pagan sacrifice, a reference to Christ’s own sacrifice which heralded a new relationship with God. Above Judas’s head is a scene showing the flight to Egypt, when Christ and his parents took refuge from King Herod who had vowed to kill him, emphasising that Judas’s betrayal led to Christ’s death.
It is possible that this scene held personal significance for the Duke of Ferrara who may have commissioned it. Every year on Maundy Thursday (the day before Easter Friday when the Crucifixion was remembered) the Duke would invite 13 men to his palace to reenact the Last Supper. The lavish interior of this little scene might be intended to reflect the ducal palace at Ferrara.
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The Institution of the Eucharist
Two Panels from a Predella
The Institution of the Eucharist and The Israelites gathering Manna were once part of a predella – a row of scenes along the base of an altarpiece – made for the church of San Domenico in Ferrara. The main panel showed Christ after his death, lying on his grieving mother’s lap, surrounded by mourners. Two of these figures are portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Ferrara. The altarpiece may have been made to commemorate the death of the Duchess, who had a particular interest in the Corpus Christi (‘body of Christ’), especially its celebration at the Eucharist. The predella probably concealed a container for the bread of the Eucharist, disguised by the image of the Last Supper, which also functioned as the container’s door. The story of the Israelites gathering manna – a heavenly ‘bread’ that fed them during their travels in the wilderness before reaching Israel – was often interpreted as a forerunner of the ‘heavenly bread’ of Christ’s body.
The Institution of the Eucharist and The Israelites gathering Manna were once part of a predella of an altarpiece made for the church of San Domenico in Ferrara. The former was probably the central panel, flanked on either side by two rectangular panels – one showing the gathering of the manna, the other Abraham and Melchizedek (while the original of this scene has been lost, an early copy, now in private collection, shows how it would have looked). The main panel of the altarpiece showed the dead Christ lying on his mother’s lap, surrounded by mourners. This type of image is known as a Lamentation.
It is possible that the altarpiece was made to commemorate Eleonora of Aragon, the Ducchess of Ferrara, who died in 1493. Ercole, the painter for the court at Ferrara, made the diptych of The Adoration of the Shepherds and The Dead Christ for Eleonora only a few years earlier. Portraits of Eleonora, her husband Ercole I d‘Este, the Duke of Ferrara, and her brother Alfonso of Aragon are included in the altarpiece. Eleonora is shown as a mourner, her husband as Nicodemus, a Jewish High Priest who brought spices to anoint Jesus’s body, and her brother as Joseph of Arimathea, the man who offered Christ his family tomb. The inclusion of all three family members suggests that the altarpiece was intended as a homage to Eleonora after her death. She had a simple funeral and grave and so it is plausible that she may have had a more elaborate memorial in the form of an altarpiece.
Eleonora was particularly devoted to the Corpus Christi (Latin for ’the body of Christ') which was celebrated in the bread and wine of the Eucharist. The body of Christ was the subject of the diptych Ercole painted for Eleonora and this altarpiece, with its focus on Christ’s sacrifice and body, would have been a fitting memorial to her.


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