“The Last Supper” (1542) by Jacopo Bassano (1510-1592) Galleria Borghese, Rome

Jacopo Bassano's The Last Supper is one of the masterpieces of 16th-century Italian painting. Instead of the elegant grouping of figures in Leonardo's painting, which inspired it, this dramatic scene features barefoot fishermen at the crucial moment when Christ asks who will betray him, and the light passing through a glass of wine stains the clean tablecloth red.

Jesus seems somehow to have been forgotten by the disciples. They chatter amongst themselves, perhaps bickering and arguing; one even seems disinterested in the whole event - a prelude to their failure to stay awake and pray with  Jesus in Gethsemane. Although painted in the sixteenth century, Jesus seems to be “looking to camera” as if making a comment directly to the viewer. What could he be saying?