Dieric Bouts (c. 1415-75), originally from Haarlem, settled in Leuven around 1444. In 1464, four members of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sacrement of Saint Peter’s Church in Leuven commissioned an altarpiece from Bouts. The contract, which has survived, stipulates that two theologians act as advisers on subject matter. The Last Supper is a rare theme for Netherlandish panel painting. Bouts set the scene in the central panel the moment when Christ announces that the host, or bread, is his body in a Flemish interior. The twelve apostles sît stiffly around a square table that dominates the room. The Christ figure is the exact center of the composition. The angle of vision is high, allowing us to look down on the spacious hall. The windows afford glimpses of city outside, two cooks looking in from the kitchen, and a garden. Bouts was a master of spatial recession, which is particularly evident in the side panels. These wings each depict two relatively obscure scenes from the Old Testament that relate to the Eucharist. Their subjects are the Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek (Genesis 14) the first offering of bread wine by a priest. … Bouts employed an innovative way of placing figures along diagonal axes that lead the viewer’s eye into distance. (Source from 1001beforeyoudiepaintings by EG)
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