Chardin's color was so wonderful that one of his artist friends cried out: "O Chardin! it is not white, red, or black that you grind to powder on your palette; it is the air and the light that you take on the point of your brush and fix on canvas."
Chardin's pictures are as beautiful and bright to-day as they were when he painted them.
[Illustration: FIG. 39. THE GOVERNESS. CHARDIN. LIECHTENSTEIN GALLERY, VIENNA]
I want you to know the disciples of Jesus just as Leonardo da Vinci painted them four hundred years ago. Leonardo spent months among the men of Milan, Italy, looking into their faces and talking with them. When he began to paint "The Last Supper" he had gathered men together so like these twelve disciples that we feel we can know them as Jesus knew them. For three years those men of old walked with Jesus and talked with him as they went up and down Palestine; and at last, on that wonderful night, they met with Him in the upper chamber to eat with Him the Last Supper. Those disciples did not know that it was the last meal they would eat with Jesus before he was hung on the cross.
We shall begin in the center of the table and name the disciples as Leonardo has them in the picture. First is the Savior. At his left is James with his arms spread out in distress; back of him is Thomas with his finger uplifted; then Philip rising with his hand on his heart; next Matthew, his arms pointing to the Savior while he turns toward the two near the end; next to him is Thaddeus; and then Simon. On the other side of Jesus sits John, the beloved disciple. His hands are folded and his eyes are cast down. Next to John is Judas, the betrayer; he holds the bag clutched in his right hand and near him is the overturned salt cellar. Leaning back of Judas is Peter with one hand on John's shoulder; next to Peter is Andrew; then James, the less, laying one hand on Peter's arm. At the end of the table is Bartholomew, who has risen resting his hands on the table. These men are all asking, "Is it I?" For Jesus had said, "He it is to whom I give a sop."
[Illustration: FIG. 40. THE LAST SUPPER. LEONARDO DA VINCI. SANTA MARIA DELLE GRAZIE, MILAN]
Of all the stories of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table none is so strange as that of Sir Galahad. Its beginning is in the upper chamber at the Last Supper with Jesus and his disciples. Legend says that the cup used by our Savior at the Last Supper was the Holy Grail. Joseph of Arimathea, who bought the cup from Pontius Pilate, used it to catch the blood that flowed from the pierced side of our Lord. The cup, or Holy Grail, was kept in the Convent of the Holy Grail by the descendants of Joseph of Arimathea.