The Church of the Holy Mary of Grace is one of Milan's most famous churches. In fact, since 1980 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also a basilica and sanctuary, which give it special status within the hierarchy of Catholic churches. Although it looks as if the preservation works have been impeccable, it must be noted that the church was almost entirely rebuilt after the American bombing of Milan during World War II. Only the dome and the central and right naves survived the devastation.
Its history goes back to the 15th century. It was Duke of Milan Francesco I Sforza who in 1463 decided to enlarge the already existing church and next to it build a Dominican convent. He commissioned Milan's leading architect, Guiniforte Solari, who had been in charge of the Duomo building site and whose son Pietro went on to build the Kremlin in Moscow, to create a new, more harmonious shrine. Most of the funding, however, was put up by one of Sforza's generals, Count Gaspare Vimercati. The convent was finished in 1469 and consisted of three cloisters: the Chiostro Grande (the Great Cloister), the Chiostro dell'Infermeria (the Infirmary Cloister) and the Chiostro dei Morti (the Cloister of the Dead).
Inside, the church has three low and wide naves separated by granite columns, which are surmounted by ogive vaults at the ceiling, the most typical element of Gothic architecture. The side naves contain seven chapels each. The most fascinating chapels are: the Cappella di Santa Corona, fourth on the right, which has a dynamic fresco of the Crucifixion by Gaudenzio Ferrari and once had an altarpiece by Titian, Christ receives the Crown with Thorns, now in the Louvre; the Cappella di San Giovanni Battista, which has a vivid vault fresco of God the Father by Ottavio Semino; and the austere Cappella della Vergine delle Grazie, which provided some eerie atmosphere for an episode in Alessandro Manzoni's epochal novel, the Betrothed.
The church's apse and dome are attributed to Donato Bramante, although there is only proof of him designing the original project, not overseeing the construction, which took place in the last decade of the 15th century. He used a pendentive, that is, a curved triangle at the vault that permits the positioning of a circular dome. The pendentive is decorated with four circles depicting the Doctors of the Church.
By the main altar, which was built in the Baroque period, once lay the Sforza Mausoleum. It was constructed in 1497 when Duke Ludovico il Moro's wife Beatrice d'Este died of premature birth at the age of twenty-two. The duke commissioned sculptor Cristofori Solari, who used white marble to create a tomb with life size sculptures of the duke and duchess on the lid. After Ludovico died and was buried in France in 1508 the mausoleum was dismembered and the remains of Beatrice lost. The lid, however, survived and can today be seen at the Certosa di Pavia, a gorgeous monumental monastery located about 30 kilometers from Milan, near the town of Pavia.
The most famous element of the Church of the Holy Mary of Grace, however, one for which in certain times of the year the tourist line may reach a length of one to two hundred meters, is a work that can easily be categorized as one of the ten most well-known paintings in history: the Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci. Perhaps it is second only to the Mona Lisa. What, also by Leonardo?!
The Cenacolo, as it is called in Italian, from the word "cena," meaning dinner, is a mural painting that is located in the refectory of the church's convent. Leonardo created it between 1495 and 1498 for his patron Ludovico Sforza using tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic. The painting shows the scene of the Last Supper in which Jesus announces to his twelve apostles that one of them is going to betray him. Unfortunately, due to all the restoration projects, hardly anything of the original work remains today: no matter how great the restorers were, due to Milan's merciless humidity, there was no way to keep the colors from fading and splintering off and the wall itself from cracking. It had actually already been in poor condition by the middle of the 16th century, a fact that was attested by biographer Giorgio Vasari. Restoration works began in the 17th century and took place every forty years or so right up to 1999. This last restoration project lasted 21 years. Surprisingly, the painting was left unscathed during the American bombing in 1943 thanks to protective sandbagging.
It is difficult to say if the Last Supper is Leonardo's greatest work; it surely is innovative in terms of perspective and alluring in terms of composition. The painting measures 460 x 880 centimeters and covers almost the entire end wall of the room, which had still not been a refectory at the time Leonardo painted it. If we look closely, we will see that all the Apostles have different reactions to Christ's news, with different degrees of amazement, fear and concern. The Apostles from left to right are: Bartholomew, James the son of Alphaeus, Andrew, Judas (who is easily recognized since he is holding a pouch of coins), Peter, John, then Thomas, James the Greater, Philip, Matthew, Jude Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot. The composition, which was becoming standard towards the end of the 15th century, has Judas sitting at the same side of the table with all the other Apostles. Previous paintings on this subject had Judas sit on the opposite side of the table to that he would easily be distinguished. Jesus's head is located at the painting's vanishing point, which emphasizes the mystery he represents. There is a story that while Leonardo was working the church's prior got him so angry that the painter decided to use the prior's face as a model for Judas. Another story says that after painting Jesus and all the apostles except Judas, Leonardo began looking for someone wicked to pose for Judas. Several months passed and he still could not find anyone. Then, as he was walking home one day, he saw a criminal being dragged to the scaffold for public execution. Leonardo stopped the guards to take a look at the criminal and was puzzled. When their eyes met, the criminal said, "Don't you recognize me? Several months ago I posed as Christ for you Last Supper?"
Perhaps no other painting in history has been discussed, criticized, lauded and ridiculed as much as Leonardo's Last Supper. It has served as a theme for poets, musicians, movie directors and other painters, including Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol. The painting has also been the center of much speculation, thanks to the theory propounded by Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince in their book, The Templar Revelation, which says that on Jesus's left sits not John the Baptist, as canonical Christian interpretation assumes, but Mary Magdalene. This theory was picked up by Dan Brown in his novel the Da Vinci Code and now, thanks to sensationalistic fiction, has probably become the most accepted version of the Apostle's identity.
In the refectory, right next to the Last Supper, we also find Donato Montorfano's Crucifixion, painted in the same years as Leonardo's masterpiece. However, it is nowhere as popular as its neighbor, for it had neither Da Vinci as its author, nor the Da Vinci Code as its publicity agent.