In what ways is Tintorettos The Last Supper different from Leonardo da Vincis The Last Supper?

To many people, Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper is THE Last Supper—it is the image that comes to their mind when they picture the great event.

But what if you are an artist and you want to paint your own Last Supper—something different? Maybe you think you can even improve on Leonardo’s version.
Tintoretto must have looked at Leonardo’s picture and thought like this:

Why did he line his Apostles up so neatly along the table? He seems not to have been able to figure out another way to get all twelve into the picture and show their faces.
Then he was stuck with that long table. But the table means nothing and adds nothing to the drama.
He had to cut all the Apostles off at the middle. I´m going to hide that silly table and show you the Apostles whole. THEY are the subject, after all. I’ll take the same moment of the Bible story as Leonardo did, when Christ has announced that one of the Apostles will betray him, and I’ll let their entire bodies speak. I’ll make it look as though Christ’s words fell like a bomb and floored those Apostles. A painter has to dramatize.

And Leonardo’s colors are pretty but they are independent of the theme or moment of the picture. I think light ought to participate in the show, just as it does at the theater. To Leonardo, color is just make-up. But it is an instrument; and rightly employed it will add a lot to the drama. For example, I’m going to put Judas in the dark: that’s a clever way of pointing to him—right?

And one more thing: what’s all the prettifying—the fine clothes the Apostles are wearing, the linen tablecloth, the palace dining-hall? Weren’t those saints common people? Didn’t they eat ordinary food in a cheap room somewhere? I’ll give them some nice robes for color but I’ll put them in a back room and sit them on cheap stools at a wobbly table.

Here is Tintoretto’s Last Supper in the Church of San Trovaso, Venice

What did people think of it? For a long time it surprised and shocked them. What vulgar, common details! said John Ruskin. “He has degraded [the Last Supper] to the most ordinary of banquets,” said Jakob Burckhardt, the great nineteenth-century historian. What is that apostle doing reaching for a bottle? And all that troubling movement—the tipped over chair, the theatralics? Where is the solemnity of the event?

Leonardo’s “Last Supper” is a fresco painting executed for the dining hall of a Milan monastery. It is known to be one of his greatest works. He began working on it in 1495 and finished it in 1498. Leonardo used his skills to create a very detailed and naturalistic piece of work. He has created all the characters with amazing individuality. The viewer is first attracted to the figure of Jesus Christ who is sitting among his apostles. Leonardo has used geometric shapes to represent the windows behind Jesus, the doors behind apostles and the ceiling. The painter has chosen to depict the moment when Jesus says, “one of you will betray me”. The apostles are seen in a state of shock and denial. The effect of this statement is visible. Despite their dramatic reaction, Leonardo imposes a sense of order on the scene. Christ’s head is at the center framed by a halo-like architectural opening. The apostles are arranged around him in four groups of three united by their posture and gesture. Judas, who was traditionally placed on the opposite side of the table, is here set apart from the other apostles by his shadowed face.

Leonardo tried some new painting techniques for this painting. Instead of using tempera on wet plaster he used dry plaster. This experiment resulted in a more varied palette, which was what he had intended to achieve. However, the painted plaster began to fall off the wall immediately.  

Tintoretto started painting “The Last Supper” in 1592 and completed it in 1594. In this painting, he created a special atmosphere by using two light sources, darker colors and transparent hovering angles which added a supernatural effect in the painting. Tintoretto’s version of the painting demonstrates a dramatic change in art and the concept of art over almost a century when it is compared to the one drawn by Leonardo. He has used intensified streaks of light to emphasize on the direction of movement, and thus heighten the effect of dramatic action. Everything and everyone is set in a motion, people are seen walking and leaning against each other, angels are flying. Mainly due to the light effects, a distinction is made between the hovering angles and the human bodies below. Tintoretto has maintained the basic realism, in drawing bodily proportions, and in expressing the color and texture of objects like the fruit, cloth and glassware. The composition in space is fantastic and successfully unified.

Both painters have done a great job in making these paintings. At the first glance Leonardo’s painting looks fairly remarkable. It represents a strongly horizontal organization with a symmetrical balanced group of apostles behind a long table, divided by Christ at the center but on a closer analysis we see Leonardo’s tranquility being radically rearranged. On the other hand Tintoretto’s painting is asymmetrical, complicated and very crowded; it is difficult to indentify particular disciples. The instant Tintoretto chose to portray differs from that of Leonardo. Leonardo chose the point at which Jesus announced that one of his apostles will betray him. However Tintoretto chose to describe the moment when Jesus shared bread, which symbolized his body as the wine stood for his blood. Leonardo chose the moment to describe death where as Tintoretto chose a moment to signify life. The drama of facial expressions that is seen in the Leonardo’s version is almost totally missing in the Tintoretto’s painting. The gestures too are arranged so as to contribute most to the general motion; not so as to be most expressive emotionally. Yet the story is conveyed and is its dramatic pace is quickened by the atmosphere of electrical demonstration.

How does Leonardo's Last Supper differ from most other paintings of the same scene?

Which is characteristic of Tintoretto's Last Supper?

What is unique about Leonardo Last Supper?

What is unusual about The Last Supper painting?