The Secret Supper - Hardcover

Javier Sierra

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743287649 ISBN 13: 9780743287647

Publisher: Atria Books, 2006

Synopsis

Sent by Pope Alejandro VI to oversee the completion of Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" at the beginning of 1497, Dominican inquisitor Fray Agustin Leyre investigates the master artist's omission of key elements and use of symbolic imagery, which suggests that a mysterious message has been coded into the painting. 350,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

The Da Vinci juggernaut rolls on, this time in the capable hands of a bestselling author in the Spanish-speaking world. The Secret Supper has been ably translated by Alberto Manguel, author of A History of Reading, that delightful revelation that squiggles on a page are words, and words make stories. Set in 1497 Milan, at the time of the painting of the Cenacolo, or The Last Supper, in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Sierra has created a tale of religious fanaticism, betrayal, murder, Church politics, artistic chicanery and mystery to confound the reader.

Fra Agostino Leyre, a Papal Inquisitor, is sent to Milan to confirm--or not--the messages of the "Soothsayer," who alleges that Leonardo Da Vinci is a heretic and has hidden heretical messages in his painting of The Last Supper. Leonardo is a figure larger than life, literally. A blue-eyed, tall, handsome man, always dressed in white, he is surrounded by faithful students and friends who are his acolytes. His brilliant mind, ranging over a multitude of ideas, has gained him a reputation for "hiding heterodox ideas in paintings apparently pious."

What Father Agostino follows is a labyrinthine path through alliances and rivalries, differences of opinion about Leonardo and a discussion of the heresy of the Cathars. They are a fascinating sect, more extra-Christianity than Christian heretics. Their practices are based on a belief that certain deprivations--primarily food and sex--will purify and make them worthy. Sierra is a very fine guide, taking the reader through palaces and monasteries rife with intrigue and typical of the flowering of intellect that came after the Dark Ages. It is a time when "Suddenly, from one day to the next, Plato's Greece, Cleopatra's Egypt and even the extravagant curiosities of the Chinese Empire that Marco Polo discovered seemed to deserve greater praise than our own Scriptural stories." Dangerous for the incumbency.

A compelling case is made that Leonardo's heretical beliefs are there for all to see in The Last Supper, if only we know how to find them. Sierra gives us the key--and keeps the suspense going right up to the end of the book. It isn't necessary to believe any of it, or even care if it's true, to enjoy this pilgrimage through another time and place. --Valerie Ryan

About the Author:

Javier Sierra, whose works have been translated into thirty-five

languages, is the author of The Lost Angel, The Lady in Blue and the New York Times bestselling novel The Secret Supper. A native of Teruel, Spain, he currently lives in MÁlaga.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atria Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0743287649
• ISBN 13: 9780743287647
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 329