The Last Supper

In this miniature, Simon Bening concentrated several moments of the Last Supper into a single scene. As Christ announces that one of those at the table will betray him, the disciples react in a troubled fashion. As he speaks, Christ looks directly at Judas, the bearded man with curly hair on the left. Jesus also offers him a piece of bread, the means of identifying the betrayer in Saint John's account of the Last Supper. Judas rises up from his seat to accept the bread from Christ.

Bening set the scene in a contemporary interior with wooden floors and leaded-glass windows with shutters. To distinguish Christ's special status, Bening included a green brocade canopy behind him, a medieval marker of nobility and another feature contemporary with the artist's world rather than the biblical world.