The Last Supper, from The Small Passion (copy)

Description

The Last Supper, from The Small Passion (copy) depicts Christ’s final meal with his disciples before the events of the Passion. This undated engraving follows Albrecht Dürer’s composition; the Metropolitan Museum of Art also suggests Abraham Waesberge as a possible maker. Both the copy identity and that tentative attribution are preserved.

The shared meal brings the participants into a single gathering, making the relationship between Christ and his disciples the center of the story. Within the larger Small Passion sequence, The Last Supper marks a transition from fellowship toward betrayal, suffering and sacrifice. The subject carries the tension between an intimate human occasion and its profound religious meaning. Its translation into engraving also distinguishes this copy from the woodcut language of Dürer’s original series.