IRR Tests of “Last Supper” Canvas in Belgium Suggest Origin in the Milan Studio of Leonardo da Vinci

Press Conference on November 6, 2019 will Present Evidence

Friday October 25, 2019 – Since the broadcast of the 2018 TV special The Search for the Last Supper in Europe and the U.S., the life-size copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper fresco at the Abbey of Tongerlo, Belgium has garnered much attention. Was this canvas painted at Leonardo’s Milan studio under da Vinci’s supervision, as the film claims, or is this simply one of several copies that were produced by Italian artists through the 16^th century?

In order to answer this question, two multispectral studies were commissioned by the art historians in charge of the project, Prof. Jean-Pierre Isbouts (Fielding Graduate University, Santa Barbara) and Dr. Christopher Brown (Brown Discoveries, LLC), authors of the 2019 book The Da Vinci Legacy. An initial study by IMEC in April of 2019 showed promising results, after which Drs. Isbouts and Brown engaged IPARC, a leading center of multidisciplinary conservation and research of Old Master paintings.
In September of this year, IPARC’s David Lainé, a renowned conservation expert, undertook a series of detailed IRR (infrared reflectogram) images that allow us to look underneath the surface and study any underdrawings as well as the structure of the paint layers and method of execution.

The results of this study, which will close the 2-year research project, will be presented during a press conference on Wednesday, November 6 at 18:00h Brussels time, 17:00h London time, via a live video conference from Los Angeles.

Accredited members of the press are requested to contact Leen Gysen at leen.gysen@iparc.eu for an invitation to this video conference.

All registered participants will also have access to a select group of IRR images cleared for publication.

The two-year study was conducted with the gracious permission of Abbot Jeroen de Cuyper and Father Ivo Cleiren at the Abbey of Tongerlo. The study was funded by Brown Discoveries, LLC of North Carolina and Fielding Graduate University of Santa Barbara, CA.

For more information about the research project or the 2018 film, please contact Cathie Labrador at clabrador@pantheonTV.com.