Holy Week: Maundy Thursday

Today is Maundy Thursday, commemorating the Last Supper with Jesus Christ with his disciples. This Holy Week I want to highlight the paintings of Italian Florentine painter Giotto di Bondone (1266-1337) whose paintings date back to the Late Middle Ages and who is regarded as the first Renaissance painter by art historians.

Giotto is one of my favorite painters. In this painting I am captured by the weighty representation of the figures, the golden halo of Christ, and the concerned and uneasy looks of his followers. The time of pain and death is drawing near, yet Christ has a look of acceptance of what is about to come. Giotto has captured it well. As Sister Wendy said: "Giotto brought to life the mysteries of faith, and art was never the same again."

Giotto, The Last Supper, 1305, Padua, Italy