Most Scholars would agree the Leonardo’s version with its refined sfumato modeling and profound awareness of human behavior belongs among the highest achievements of High Renaissance art . The Last Supper was an iconic piece of the high renaissance because of its high replication rate. People appreciated the difference in the arrangement of the apostles, in most earlier paintings Christ and the Apostles are lined up along the table and appear relatively inert and inexpressive. Their gestures restrained and their faces impassive; there is little sign of communication between them . While Leonardo’s piece brought the apostles to life, and arranged them in such a way where there are twelve men on one side of the table, divided into four groups of …show more content…
But of the original surface- of its color and atmosphere, its breath of sfumato, its precision of nuance in still life and faces- almost nothing is left.” . Hope also argues that “Since the original surface of Leonardo’s masterpiece is gone, while only patches of the lower layers have been preserved, to all intents and purposes the Last Supper no longer exists and has not existed for centuries” . The historians agree that restoration was needed, with many layers of dirt accumulating only after a few decades after the last cleaning, but many argue that restoration takes away from the original piece. Once restoration has happened the emphasis of the work is put on art as an aesthetic object, rather than keeping the piece as an artifact in