Today at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, green campaigners from Just Stop Oil fastened themselves to the frame of a replica of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper.
Just Stop Oil named three of those participating today as Jessica Agar, a 21-year-old art student from Hereford; Tristan Strange, a 40-year-old community organizer from Swindon; and Lucy Porter, a 47-year-old former educator from Leeds.
The mural, which represents a scenario from the Gospel of John in the Bible where Jesus Christ announces that one of his 12 apostles will betray him, also bears the words “no new oil” spray-painted beneath it by the four protesters.
The original, which may be found on the wall of the Santa Maria delle Grazie church in Milan, is missing the upper third of da Vinci’s composition, but the duplicate in the Royal Academy was painted around 1520 and is roughly the same size.
The original is thought to be valued at least £375 million ($450 million), thus the value of the London work is unknown but is most likely in the tens of millions of pounds. Switzerland is the only other country that has an official copy.