Paintings of Jesus at the Last Supper

Activities for Bible study groups

1. Scroll through the paintings below. You’ll see some very famous paintings, and some you may not have seen before.
2. Choose a favorite. What moment in the story of the Last Supper does it show?
3.  What do you like about it? What makes it stand out from the others?
4. Are there other moments in the story that have been overlooked, that you would like to see?

Jesus, guessing that he was about to be arrested by the authorities, had a last meal with his friends. As they finished eating, he predicted his betrayal and death. Not only that: he described how Peter and Judas, two of his closest friends, would fail him.

In a prophetic moment he asked the disciples to remember him whenever they celebrated a similar meal.

The marvellous Epitaphios of Thessaloniki

A section of the Epitaphios of Thessaloniki. An epitaphios was a woven and embroidered cloth used in solemn liturgical ceremonies. Woven from gold and silver threads, it was enormously heavy, so it was laid on the heads and shoulders of two or three priests who then walked towards the altar carrying their luxurious burden.

This one, very rare, shows the Last Supper: Christ offers wine to his apostles in the section shown here. In another section he offers them the bread.