Da Vinci and The Last Supper (Extracted from a book by Coelho)
In conceiving this painting, Leonardo Da Vinci came up against a great difficulty: he had to paint Good, the portrait of Jesus, and Evil, in the person of Judas, the friend who betrayed him during dinner. He had to leave work half-heartedly because he could not find the ideal models.
One day, while listening to a choir, he saw that one of the boys was the perfect image of Jesus Christ. He invited him to his workshop and reproduced his features in studies and sketches.
Three years later. The last supper was almost finished, but Da Vinci had not yet found the ideal model for Judas. The cardinal responsible for the church pressured him to finish the mural once and for all.
After many days of searching, the painter found himself with a young man prematurely aged, unkempt, drunk, lying down by a sewer. He asked the people around him to help him and, with many difficulties, they took him directly to the church, because he no longer had time to sketch.
The beggar did not understand what was happening: the people who had dragged him there kept him standing while Da Vinci copied the lines of impiety, sin, selfishness so well marked in that face.
When it was over, the beggar, something remade of the hangover, opened his eyes and saw the painting in front of him. And he said, with a mixture of horror and sadness.
-I had seen this painting before!
-When? - Da Vinci asked, surprised. - Three years ago, before losing everything. At a time when I was singing in a choir and I had a life full of dreams, that was when the painter invited me to pose as a model for the face of Jesus Christ. ... That is, that Good and Evil have the same face; everything depends on the time in which they cross each other's path.
Note: If we understand that in each human being has as much capacity for good as for evil it is difficult to trust but we will also be aware that we ourselves can be tempted towards evil so we will know that in order to earn our trust we must be attentive to wrong in ourselves to master it.
What do you think?