At the gift shop of the Cathedral in Lima they sold small sculptures with an all-Latino Last Supper.
However, that has nothing on the large painting prominently displayed in the Cathedral in Cusco. First of all, in this painting Jesus and Disciples are dining on cuy (Guinea Pig) which is a local delicacy though it is not kosher. Photos weren't allowed inside the church. Click here for the whole scene. Click here for a close up of the cuy.
The second this to notice about the painting is that Judas (clutching his bag of silver coins) is painted in the foreground looking out at the viewer. To me, Judas bears a pretty close resemblance to Francisco Pizarro the Spanish conquistador who began conquering Peru in 1532 and conquered the city of Cusco in 1533. Paintings of Pizarro show him as having a long face and perhaps an underbite although it is hard to tell with his full beard. Pizarro is also depicted as having a thin nose, a high forehead, and in different paintings his hair is either dark brown or a lighter brown color with some reddish tones. I'll let you judge whether you think the Judas in Marcos Zapata's Last Supper painting resembles this image of Pizarro.
I will have more to say about Pizarro in a future blog entry. However, let me end this entry with one more Last Supper image. This one is found on the wall of a restaurant in Aguas Calientes. In this rendering, Jesus isn't joined by the twelve Disciples. Instead, he is joined by fourteen Incan Kings.
Take a second to notice the upper right and the upper left corner of this picture. In those respective corners you will see the moon and sun, which the Incans deified in their religious worldview. Also, the table prominently features maize but Jesus is sitting in front of an avocado! I wonder if anyone has ever tried a guacamole communion?
In case you are wondering, Dayenu is a festive song that is sung at Passover Seders. The Last Supper was actually an observance of Passover.
