La cena secreta
Javier Sierra
Publicado: 2004 | 287 páginas
Novela Histórico Intriga

La trama se desarrolla durante la creación de la obra «La Última Cena», encargo de Ludovico el Moro al artista Leonardo da Vinci como parte de la ampliación y decoración del refectorio del convento dominico de Santa Maria delle Gracia, en Milán, Italia entre 1495 y 1497. Agustín Leyre, inquisidor dominico experto en la interpretación de mensajes cifrados, es enviado a toda prisa a Milán para supervisar los trazos finales que el maestro Leonardo da Vinci está dando a La Última Cena, debido a una serie de cartas anónimas recibidas en la corte papal de Alejandro VI, en las que se denuncia que Da Vinci no sólo ha pintado a los Doce sin su preceptivo halo de santidad, sino que el propio artista se ha retratado en la sagrada escena, dando la espalda a Jesucristo. En la novela se expone que La Última Cena de Leonardo da Vinci contiene una serie de anomalías para el punto de vista de los católicos ortodoxos de la época: no muestra el Santo Grial, ni a Cristo instaurando el Sacramento de la Eucaristía, sino que hace un gesto con las manos parecido a una imposición, idéntico al único sacramento que ejercitaban los cátaros durante sus ceremonias, el «Consolamentum». También expone la posibilidad de que los discípulos fueran retratos de importantes heterodoxos de su época. Tampoco la actitud de los Doce en esa composición refleja lo que narran los Evangelios: Juan, el joven discípulo que está sentado junto al maestro, no apoya su cabeza en su pecho, como dice el Nuevo Testamento; más bien, al contrario, parece alejarse de él. El autor se basa en datos como que la región italiana de la Lombardía acogió entre los siglos XIII y XV a los últimos supervivientes cátaros después de la caída de sus correligionarios en Montsegur en 1244.

An interesting and somewhat compelling tale of 15th-Century murder and mystery surrounding Leonardo Da Vinci's painting The Last Supper. It's a very interesting and informative narrative that takes in secrets, codes, symbology and 15th-Century culture and politics. It moves along reasonably well but seems to finish a little anti-climatically. ( )

This is not a genre I normally read; in fact, I shy away from historical thrillers that are based on the Cathar schism in the Catholic Church. (Think Dan Brown.) Yet, here we have a deeply researched novel populated with more actual historical characters than fictional ones and full of delightfully intriguing esoterica about controversial religious texts, the coded language of symbols in great art, and of course how all this comes to focus in da Vinci's Cenacolo, or The Last Supper.

Sierra has written a neatly integrated scholarly interpretation of the much discussed compositional elements of the world's most famous fresco on the refectory wall of the Santa Maria delle Grazie that is the dining room of its Dominican brethren. Even during the three years that da Vinci agonized -- and he did agonize -- over this masterwork, the panting, commissioned by Ludovico il Moro, Duke of Milan, was controversial. Politics nurtured a rivalry between the Mother Church in Rome, fearful of the liberalism fostered by il Moro, who was suspected of heretical thinking and was believed by some in the Vatican to be an apostate, adhering to Cathar schismatics.

In the novel, the Inquisitor and friar, Agostino Leyre is dispatched from Rome to investigate the mysterious coded message the Secretariat of the Order in Bethany has received from someone in the Dominican monastery in Milan calling himself the Soothsayer, who accuses "certain people" of occult practices and hints that the famous artist, Leonardo da Vinci, is a servant of Satan.

Sierra manages a grand stage filled with many characters, all exquisitely individualized so that they live on the page. The atmosphere of the late 15th C. and the turmoil caused by the Academy in Rome (established as reincarnation of Plato's famous Athenian Academy) turning out highly educated, multi talented "Renaissance men," largely secular and questioning in their habits has upset the control of the Papal States over the populous. Trouble is brewing on all sides and the conundrums in secret messages, texts, and symbols in paintings spell danger to those in power. Violent death invades the sanctuary, rebellious religious cannot be brought to heel, and rumors persist that the Cathars have not been wiped out but are hovering in the hills surrounding Milan. Sierra weaves all these threads in a tightly plotted work and manages to drop none of them.

Readers who enjoy Eco's novels will be gratified by this novel for its richness of detail and historical accuracy, as well as its controlled pacing and mounting tension. Here we have puzzles enough to confound the most clever fan of mysteries. The question is, will they also confound Father Agostino? ( )

Working with the assumption that Da Vinci was a Cathar and thereby a heretic, a papal investigator is sent not only to try to decipher some scribbles found in the famous painting, but to determine the meaning of some aspects of the painting as a whole … there is no meat on the table, the bread is missing and strangely the faces of the apostles bear striking resembles to heretics of the day. Mixing in real historical figures with some fictional ones (I, personally, am not familiar enough with the period to differentiate all of them) to help solve the clues made this an interesting and, often, educational read.

Admittedly, there has been a “glut” on the market of these conspiracy theory books since the publication of The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) but this one is a less of a conspiracy theory action thriller and more of a “what if?” representation of the ( )

Another historical thriller based around da Vinci's The Last Supper. Nowhere near as taut and intriguing as The DaVinci Code, but interesting nonetheless.

Bookcrossing: http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6925184/ ( )