The Last Supper in the Illustrated Chronicle Compilation (Litsevoi letopisnyi svod)

In the Illustrated Chronicle Compilation (Litsevoi letopisnyi svod), which is a massive illustrated history of the world, composed in or near Moscow between the late 1560s and early 1580s, appears an illustration of the Last Supper. Within the same frame, it depicts four (or five scenes): Judas receiving the moneybag from the priests; Judas returning the moneybag to the priests, Jesus telling the disciples how to go about finding the room for the Passover meal; Jesus and the disciples at the meal itself; and a woman with a halo in a house. The questions this article explores are: what is the context for the representation of Judas, who is the woman in the house, and what is her relationship to the Last Supper scene. In the process an illustration on the previous folio of well-do-do Mary in “Magda town” who welcomes Jesus into her house and subsequently gives it up to follow Jesus is analyzed for its relationship to the Last Supper illustration. The article concludes that the woman in the Last Supper scene is the mother of Jesus, who represents synecdochically the women at the Last Supper (although probably segregated). The illustration of Mary from Magda town is closer to the Gospels’ description of the role of Mary Magdalene than that of churchmen and novelists.