The Last Supper 1606 - 1651

Editor: So, this is Gerard Seghers' "The Last Supper," painted sometime between 1606 and 1651. It’s an oil painting on canvas. Looking at it, I’m struck by the almost theatrical drama in the lighting, but I’m curious about how Seghers’ workshop might have influenced its creation. What stands out to you about this work? Curator: Well, focusing on materiality, it is imperative to consider this piece's means of production. Notice how Seghers uses chiaroscuro, likely employing specific oil-paint layering techniques popular at the time, but for what end? Was this strategic use of the medium designed to provoke a visceral, even consumer-driven, emotional response? Editor: Consumer-driven? Interesting! It does feel…produced, almost, now that you mention it. Are you suggesting it’s less about religious expression and more about something else? Curator: Religious expression was certainly the purported subject matter and aim, but look closer. How do the social conditions of the baroque market and the function of the workshop impact how we should analyze his choices here? Where does Seghers' "labor" as artist overlap and diverge with those who prepared pigments and canvases in his studio? Do their material contributions, essential to this production, get the same credit and acknowledgment? Editor: I see your point. It reframes the artist's singular "genius." It definitely opens my eyes to consider how the very materiality speaks volumes about 17th-century art production. Thanks! Curator: Indeed. By thinking of these questions, you invite new readings. Perhaps there is more in the materiality than initially meets the eye.