Look up Paolo Veronese’s 1573 “Feast in the House of Levi.” It was originally intended to be a “Last Supper,” but the Inquisition decided it was too festive (and too crowded), and the artist was nearly charged with heresy. Retitling it so that it referred to the feast in Luke 5:29-32 got him off the hook.
Monty Python did a sketch based on the incident (in “Live at the Hollywood Bowl”) with the Pope (John Cleese) complaining about a “Last Supper” commissioned from Michelangelo (Eric Idle), which included too many apostles and three Christs (“See how the fat one balances out the two thin ones”); artistic license, don’t you know. Rather than change the painting, Michelangelo offers to change the title, to “The Last Supper But One,” or “The Penultimate Supper” (there had to have been one). The sketch ends with Michelangelo saying “You don’t want an artist, you want a bleedin’ photographer!” and the Pope saying “I may not know much about art, but I know what I like.”
goboboyd 9 months ago
The last salad course?
fritzoid Premium Member 9 months ago
Look up Paolo Veronese’s 1573 “Feast in the House of Levi.” It was originally intended to be a “Last Supper,” but the Inquisition decided it was too festive (and too crowded), and the artist was nearly charged with heresy. Retitling it so that it referred to the feast in Luke 5:29-32 got him off the hook.
Monty Python did a sketch based on the incident (in “Live at the Hollywood Bowl”) with the Pope (John Cleese) complaining about a “Last Supper” commissioned from Michelangelo (Eric Idle), which included too many apostles and three Christs (“See how the fat one balances out the two thin ones”); artistic license, don’t you know. Rather than change the painting, Michelangelo offers to change the title, to “The Last Supper But One,” or “The Penultimate Supper” (there had to have been one). The sketch ends with Michelangelo saying “You don’t want an artist, you want a bleedin’ photographer!” and the Pope saying “I may not know much about art, but I know what I like.”