About the Author

Pinin Brambilla Barcilon is one of the world's foremost authorities on the conservation of Renaissance frescoes. She has published widely on the subject and is responsible for a number of important technical advancements in the field. For the last twenty years, she has served as the chief conservator of the project to restore the Last Supper.

Pietro C. Marani is a curator and Renaissance scholar who specializes in the life and production of Leonardo da Vinci. His books include Leonardo: I Maestri, Leonardo and Venice, and Leonardo: Catalogo Completo dei Dipinti.

Harlow Tighe is a translator living in Milan.

Reviews

"Leonardo, The Last Supper documents the process by which, after nearly 500 years and various 'restorations, ' conservators attempted to get the work as close as possible to its original state. . . . The 382 color plates and 64 halftones in the lush, slipcased edition are accompanied by extensive, cogent commentary."-- "Publishers Weekly"

"The cleaning of the Last Supper . . . could never promise a return to original splendor once the layers of dirt and repaint were removed. For it was generally known that little of Leonardo's painted surface was there to be rediscovered. What little there is has now been brought to light, and is splendidly illustrated, in the weighty volume by Pinin Brambilla Barcilon and Pietro C. Marani. . . . The excellent color plates in this book are at once revealing and dismaying. Displaying in remarkable detail what is left of Leonardo's painting, they introduce us to details and colors that we could hardly have appreciated before: the delicately rendered utensils and food on the table, the embroidered blue pattern on the tablecloth, and the nuanced rendering of its crisp folds."--David Rosand "The New Republic"