In the New Testament, Jesus binds his person and his permanence in history to this simple and daily sign: the eating of bread and drinking of wine (Lk. 22.19). In the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John after the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, Jesus identifies himself with the “true bread of life that has come down from heaven” (Jn. 6.41). At the Last Supper, Jesus uses bread and wine to institute the sacrament of the Eucharist: “this is my body, this is my blood” (Mt. 26.26-28). The Last Supper and the Eucharist are closely linked both because during the Last Supper Jesus institutes this sacrament, and because the rite makes present what Je- sus wanted to anticipate during his last dinner in a bloodless manner: his sacrifice on the cross. The Last Supper’s importance explains its presence in the history of art from the very beginning to the present day. In this article I will present Perugi- no’s Last Supper from the refectory of the Franciscan tertiaries linked to the rule of Blessed Angela da Foligno in Florence. I will analyze the position of Judas with re- spect to Jesus to see how different artists before him have solved the problem of positioning so as to render him easily recognizable, yet maintaining a proximity to Jesus concordant with the Gospel. I will discuss the bread and wine and the lamb and I will focus on the morsel that Jesus gives to Judas. I will consider whether it is the Eucharist or some other food; above all, I consider what meaning it had for Jesus in offering it, and for Judas in receiving it. It seems to me that Perugino’s fresco best captures the relationship between Jesus and Judas: the morsel personally given him is in fact a gesture of great love towards Judas.
