LEONARDO da Vinci: Study for the Last Supper

Leonardo's preparatory sketches for the Last Supper reveal the master's obsessive process of capturing human emotion at its most dramatic moment—the instant Christ announces his betrayal. Created around 1495 as he worked on the monumental mural in Milan, these studies demonstrate his revolutionary approach to composition, with careful attention to gesture, facial expression, and the psychological interplay between the apostles. The drawings showcase Leonardo's belief that art required scientific observation and intellectual rigor, laying bare the genius behind one of Renaissance painting's most iconic achievements.