be the expression of spiritual--non-rational and subjective--values" (Freedberg 23).
Various compromises had been worked out between these two positions. But, Leonardo wanted a true blending, rather than a compromise. The means of depicting the relation between the physical and the spiritual "were to be a rationality of ideas and form, and its governing mode, harmony" (Freedberg 23). He did not seek to replicate reality for its own sake, nor did he choose to neglect the appearance of the real world. Instead, Leonardo believed that the painter could show "that truth which intellect may find behind the facade of visible experience" (Freedberg 20). The painter's various tools, such as perspective or the rendering of light on surfaces, were to be used to create an overall harmony that took from the real world in order to describe the ideal. Leonardo had begun the work of creating this new style in his Adoration of the Magi (1481), which he left behind, unfinished, in Florence, when he departed for Milan. His earlier paintings in Milan show the continued development of the style, but his Last Supper was to be its major statement (Freedberg 20).
He began conventionally enough. Refectories, the dining halls of the friars or monks who ran large churches, were traditionally decorated with portrayals of the Last Supper, or some other subject associated with dining. These paintings must have been considered important commissions, since "their execution was often entrusted to the most popular and well-known artists of the times" (Cole 45). The opposite wall usually featured a fresco of the Crucifixion--signify
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