The Last Supper Rediscovered

In a Belgian abbey hangs a canvas almost as large as the wall it covers: a full-size copy of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, painted in the master's own lifetime, when the original in Milan was already beginning to crumble.

The Last Supper Rediscovered tells the story of that copy and of the masterpiece it helped to save. It follows the canvas from a Renaissance workshop in Lombardy across the Alps to Tongerlo Abbey, through centuries of wars, fire and neglect, and finally to the Vatican, where it was shown to the world as a witness to what Leonardo really painted.

Along the way you will meet the apprentices who learned their trade in Leonardo's studio, the monks who bought the painting and guarded it, the restorers who brought it back to life, and the scholars who still argue over who held the brush.

Written as a narrative rather than a textbook, the book combines careful history with the life of the workshops, the debate over attribution, and the long, fragile story of the Cenacolo in Milan. Every new character is introduced with their own story, and every claim is grounded in the sources.

For readers who love art history, the Renaissance, and the true stories hidden behind famous paintings.