Patience Rewarded With Clear View Of Masterpiece

Visitors lined up for hours Sunday outside a Milan church to see Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” as it was intended to be seen without having to peer through scaffolding.

The public has been allowed in from time to time during the 20-year restoration process, but the late 15th-century painting finally could be viewed without scaffolding blocking part of it.

The painting, on the wall of a dining hall in a monastery adjacent to Santa Maria della Grazie church, has undergone 19 known restorations in four centuries. The latest one, begun in 1978, aimed to restore badly faded colors and undo some damage from previous restorations.

Leonardo’s use of tempera - a technique less durable than true fresco painting, which is done on wet plaster - has made deterioration a problem.

Hundreds of people waited Sunday to get a look at the painting.

Officials were allowing groups of 20 to view it for 15 minutes at a time to limit the pollution that contributes to deterioration, Italian TV reports said. By next year, a reservation system will be in place to shorten the wait, according to the reports.

In 1995, visitors began passing through two separate glass cabins. Between the cabins, filters imperceptibly remove impurities brought in from the outside, such as dust, and pump in clean air.