Das Abendmahl

Hans Leonhard Schäufelein painted this Last Supper around 1515, depicting Christ's final meal with his disciples in the compositional tradition established by Leonardo's celebrated Milan fresco. The Last Supper had been transformed by Leonardo's 1495–1498 version from a devotional image into a psychological drama of revelation and response, and Schäufelein's version—like those of many northern European painters—reflects this Italian innovation transmitted through prints and copies. Working in Nördlingen after his training in Dürer's Nuremberg workshop, Schäufelein brought his characteristic solid figure construction and narrative clarity to one of the period's most theologically significant subjects. The Eucharistic implications of the Last Supper gave the subject particular importance in a period when Protestant reformers were challenging the Catholic theology of transubstantiation.

The panel shows Schäufelein's careful spatial organization with the apostles arranged around the table in a clear, readable composition reflecting Dürer's influence on his approach to multi-figure narrative scenes.