Why is Tintoretto’s Last Supper at San Giorgio Maggiore considered a major work of his career?

Tintoretto’s Last Supper (1592–94), located in the church of San Giorgio Maggiore, is considered a masterpiece and a crowning achievement of his career because it represents the culmination of his lifelong exploration of light, space, and dramatic narrative.12

In this work, Tintoretto masterfully synthesized the Mannerist vocabulary—characterized by rapidly receding diagonals and dramatic foreshortening—with the Venetian school's traditional focus on light and color. The painting is noted for its visionary quality, where light is used to define forms and heighten the scene's drama; specifically, the head of Christ is bathed in a light that is echoed in the smoky lamps, creating an ambiguous and mystical source of illumination.12

Completed just months before his death, the painting serves as a testament to his deep spiritual bent and his ability to create "incorporeal apparitions" of angelic figures, marking a significant departure from the balanced, static compositions of the High Renaissance, such as Leonardo da Vinci’s earlier version of the same subject.32