Did a French King Really Try to Steal Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper?
Did a French King Really Try to Steal Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper?
Louis XII wanted Leonardo’s masterpiece for France. Unfortunately, the painting came with a rather substantial problem: it was attached to a wall.
In 1499, King Louis XII of France conquered Milan, bringing an end to Ludovico Sforza’s rule and dramatically changing the fortunes of the artists who had worked under his patronage.
Among the treasures the French encountered was a painting that had already made Leonardo da Vinci famous: The Last Supper, completed only a short time earlier in the refectory of the Dominican convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie.
According to Renaissance accounts, Louis admired the painting so much that he wanted to take it home to France (Giovio, ca. 1527–1547; Vasari, 1550/1568).
There was just one problem.
It was painted on a wall.
A King Discovers Leonardo’s Masterpiece
Leonardo painted The Last Supper between approximately 1494 and early 1498, during his years in the service of Ludovico Sforza (Museo del Cenacolo Vinciano, n.d.-b).
The painting depicted the moment when Christ announced that one of his apostles would betray him. Rather than presenting thirteen solemn, motionless figures, Leonardo arranged the apostles into animated groups, their gestures and expressions revealing their reactions to the announcement.
It was an extraordinary achievement in narrative painting.
When French forces took control of Milan in 1499, the work was still relatively new.
Louis XII had inherited a claim to the Duchy of Milan through his Visconti ancestry. His invasion was not an art-collecting expedition; it was a military and dynastic conquest.
Nevertheless, the king apparently recognized the artistic value of what he had found.
The Renaissance historian Paolo Giovio reported that Louis was so captivated by Leonardo’s painting that he asked whether it could be cut out of the wall and transported to France (Giovio, ca. 1527–1547).
The idea was ambitious, to say the least.
Could You Move an Entire Wall Across the Alps?
The story becomes even more entertaining in Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists.
Writing decades after the French conquest, Vasari described the king’s determination to possess the painting. According to his account, Louis investigated whether architects could secure the work with wooden and iron supports so that it might be transported safely (Vasari, 1550/1568).
The expense, Vasari suggested, was not the principal concern.
The difficulty was the painting itself.
Unlike a portable panel painting, The Last Supper was executed directly on the refectory wall. Leonardo had experimented with a painting technique that allowed him to work more slowly and achieve effects difficult to obtain using traditional fresco methods (Museo del Cenacolo Vinciano, n.d.-a).
Removing the work would have meant confronting the enormous technical problem of separating or transporting a large section of masonry without destroying the painting.
And then there was the small matter of getting it from Milan to France.
Vasari concluded that the king abandoned the idea, leaving the masterpiece where it was (Vasari, 1550/1568).
The Milanese kept their Last Supper.
But Did Louis XII Actually Try to Steal It?
Here is where the historical evidence becomes important.
The story is not simply a modern internet invention. It appears in Renaissance accounts, including those of Paolo Giovio and Giorgio Vasari.
However, these accounts were written decades after the events they describe. They are evidence for the historical tradition surrounding Louis XII’s admiration, but they do not independently establish that a removal operation was undertaken.
Giovio presented the episode as something reported about the king. Vasari elaborated on the technical difficulties and the king’s determination (Giovio, ca. 1527–1547; Vasari, 1550/1568).
These accounts support the conclusion that a tradition existed in the sixteenth century that Louis XII wanted to transport The Last Supper to France.
They do not establish that an actual theft took place.
Calling the episode an attempted theft makes for an irresistible headline, but it goes beyond what the surviving evidence can demonstrate.
The French Connection Didn't End There
Louis XII’s admiration for Leonardo was part of a larger relationship between the artist and the French monarchy.
Following the conquest of Milan, French officials became important patrons and supporters of Leonardo. He eventually returned to Milan under French rule, and Louis sought his services.
The story of the king and The Last Supper also raises an intriguing question: if the original painting could not be transported, might a copy have satisfied the French court?
Numerous copies of The Last Supper were produced, helping Leonardo’s composition circulate far beyond the walls of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Some have been discussed in connection with French royal patronage, although individual commissions and attributions remain subjects of scholarly debate.
What is certain is that the painting’s influence extended well beyond Milan.
A Masterpiece That Stayed in Milan
More than five centuries later, The Last Supper remains in the same refectory for which Leonardo painted it.
It survived the collapse of the Sforza dynasty, successive foreign occupations, centuries of deterioration, restoration campaigns, and the devastation of the Second World War (Museo del Cenacolo Vinciano, n.d.-a).
And according to a memorable Renaissance tradition, it also survived the ambitions of a French king who wanted to take it across the Alps.
Louis XII could conquer Milan.
But taking Leonardo’s masterpiece home was another matter entirely.
References
Giovio, P. (ca. 1527–1547). Leonardi Vincii vita [Life of Leonardo da Vinci]. Historical biographical account.
Museo del Cenacolo Vinciano. (n.d.-a). Backstage: A fragile heritage. https://cenacolovinciano.org/en/museum/backstage/
Museo del Cenacolo Vinciano. (n.d.-b). The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519). https://cenacolovinciano.org/en/museum/the-works/the-last-supper-leonardo-da-vinci-1452-1519/
Vasari, G. (1550/1568). The life of Leonardo da Vinci. In Lives of the most excellent painters, sculptors, and architects. https://sourcebooks.web.fordham.edu/basis/vasari/vasari14.asp
Historical note: Giovio’s biography survives in editions with differing publication histories. The date range above refers to its approximate composition period, not a specific modern edition. Vasari’s dates identify the original and revised editions; the linked English translation is a later version.
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