ICONOGRAPHY OF "THE LAST SUPPER" AND ITS ORIGINS IN THE MONUMENTS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN ERA

Abstract

The article deals with the works of monumental painting, decorative and applied art and art of the book miniature of the early Christian era with the first images that refer to the prototypes of the "Last Supper". The research of iconography and the origins of the plot, namely, the influence of Roman art on the formation of iconography and artistic works of Christian art at its earliest stages of creation is the main line of the article. The main problems of identification of the plot, its symbols and use in various art forms are highlighted.In the study of the iconography of the plot "The Last Supper", the main difficulties arise with the origin of the plot, and therefore, with the use of evangelical or synoptic sources for its interpretation by masters who created these works of art. Times of dating, works of the early Christian era over time transformed even more and changed in the context of the development of iconography with its artistic peculiarities. The placement of Christ's disciples during the conduct of the sacrament, their posture, clothing, symbolism and details of the conditional interior, which accompany each work deserve detailed examination, art-study analysis and scientific explanation.In the study of the Byzantine book miniature of the early Christian era, it appears necessary to determine which part of the text from the Holy Scripture is illustrated alongside the image of the "Last Supper" and which additional miniatures accompany it. Also, special attention deserves exceptional and rare in the number of works of decorative and applied arts, in which the plot was embodied. In addition, to consider the origin and development of the iconography of the "Last Supper", it appears necessary to analyse and distinguish the differences in the iconography of works.The material of the article is illustrated by the works of the monumental art of the Roman catacombs and exhibits from the collection of the Louvre Museum, the State Historical Museum in Moscow, the Archbishopric Treasury of the Rossano Cathedral and the miniatures of the Cambridge Library of the Corpus Christi College.