The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

The Last Supper

1510

Albrecht Dürer

(German, 1471–1528)
Germany
woodcut
Sheet: 40 x 28.8 cm (15 3/4 x 11 5/16 in.)
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland in memory of Ralph King 1926.112
Catalogue raisonné: Meder 114
Location: 101B Prints & Drawings

Did You Know?

This print depicts the apostles dining on a humble but sturdy refectory table. Dürer included the date of the print on the middle trestle, a location often reserved for heraldry on more lavish tables.

Description

The Christian sacrament of the Eucharist is traced to the Last Supper, when Christ said of the wine, “This is my blood.” For artists, the scene was full of both symbolic and narrative potential. Albrecht Dürer created a compact, vertical composition that focuses on the closeness of the disciples and the moment, wine flowing, when Christ reveals his fate. Dürer’s ingenious woodcut technique includes the creation of a halo made from parallel lines around Christ’s head that continue outward to define the shadow of the vaulted room.
  • ?–?
    (M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, NY, sold to the Print Club of Cleveland, Cleveland, OH)
    ?–1926
    The Print Club of Cleveland, Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    June 4, 1926–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • "The Print Club's Gift in Memory of Ralph King." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 13, no.7 (July 1926): 159-162. Reproduced: p. 158; Mentioned: p. 161 25136946
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928. Reproduced: p. 49 archive.org
  • In Vino Veritas (In Wine, Truth). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 7, 2025-January 11, 2026).
    Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 17-November 9, 2003).
    Albrecht Dürer and His Influence. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 16-March 10, 1991).
    Eight Masters of the Print. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 14, 1980-January 18, 1981).
    Art: The International Language. The Cleveland Museum of Art (October 2-November 4, 1956).
    16th Century German Woodcuts. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 24-February 26, 1939).
    16th Century Prints from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 4-29, 1935).
  • {{cite web|title=The Last Supper|url=false|author=Albrecht Dürer|year=1510|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1926.112