Haringey resident Raphaël Mouterde combines art, symbolism and geometry to unveil new insights into the painting.
Have you ever looked beyond the surface of the great masters’ paintings to what might have gone into the making of them?
Delve into Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper with Raphaël Mouterde in his intriguing book, The Geometry of the Last Supper, and explore new angles on what you thought you knew about both painting and artist.
The book skilfully blends the worlds of Renaissance art, geometry and symbolism to create a fascinating journey of discovery. The pace of the book allows the reader to uncover, for the very first time, the simple and delicate geometry at play in the composition of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece. Never before has a single and unified solution been proposed to explain the making of the Last Supper.
Raphaël explains: “After years of studying the geometry of cathedrals, I stumbled across the geometry of the Last Supper when actor friends were looking for proportions in the composition of the famous mural. They were creating a play based on Leonardo’s notebooks and masterpieces. Resorting first to pen and paper, I discovered an elegant geometry that could explain how all the main elements of the composition were drawn. To put it to the test, I decided to generate on a computer, the geometry alone. The moment of superposing this ‘geometry layer’ onto a high-resolution picture of the painting was an exhilarating experience, as the accuracy of the geometry became apparent.”
He continues: “The symbolism of each geometrical shape encountered in the composition of the Last Supper has an ancient history, deeply rooted in a tradition that goes back to Pythagoras and beyond. From the geometry itself, emerges in all its beauty the inner message of the Last Supper.”
About the Author:
Raphaël Mouterde is a classical music record producer living in London. His interest for symbolic geometry spans decades. He first studied the geometry of churches and cathedrals before venturing into the composition of the Last Supper.
Publication Date: 28/08/2023
ISBN: 9781803137612
Price: £24.99
