With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

British historian suggests Da Vinci used his own face in famed painting

British art historian Ross King has presented new evidence which he believes shows that Leonardo da Vinci used his own face for two apostles, Thomas and James, in his famous mural, “The Last Supper,” British Daily Mail has reported.

Yet, ironically, art experts still have relatively little idea what Da Vinci himself looked like.
Because the Renaissance genius left no self-portraits from his youth, academics have been forced to explore their suspicions that he may have placed his image into one of his own masterpieces.

Greek nose with flowing hair and long beard

Now one art historian believes he has uncovered new evidence that the great man inserted himself not once, but twice, into his famous mural, “The Last Supper.”

King, the author of the international best-seller “Brunelleschi’s Dome,” makes reference to a poem written in the 1490s, when Leonardo was painting “The Last Supper,” by his friend Gasparo Visconti. In it, Visconti makes fun of an unnamed artist for putting his image into his works “however handsome it may be.”...

Read entire article at Hurriyet Daily News