Sunday, Mar. 23, 2008

Man finishes 'Last Supper' masterpiece in his home

Love, faith and devotion are difficult to quantify.

Don't try telling that to the family of Martin Martinez, who, after 13 years, succeeded in re-creating Leonardo da Vinci's 15th-century master work, "The Last Supper" on a kitchen wall at his Modesto home.

Excuse me?

No. You read that correctly.

For most of the past 13 years,

Martinez, with systematic precision and stubborn perseverance, covered a large portion of the plaster wall behind and above the family's kitchen table with the mural.

What motivated the 46-year-old -- a successful jazz saxophonist and bandleader, music teacher (he just opened his own music store in Tracy) and former U.S. Postal Service worker? "My wife, Silvia, is so special to me," he said. "I wanted the best for my wife. I wanted to give her something no one else could have."

The one-of-a-kind gift also is shared with the couple's three children: Marty, 23, Andrea, 12, and Pedro, 10.

For years, Martinez and his wife had talked about getting a copy of the painting, which depicts the reaction of Christ's disciples when he tells them that one of them is about to betray him.

They planned to hang it in the kitchen.

"Being Mexican and Catholic," Martinez deadpanned as he nodded toward the mural, "we had to have one."

By the way, Martinez enjoys displaying his dry wit when you least expect it.

But don't get the wrong idea. Da Vinci's "last Supper" holds cultural and religious significance for the Martinez family, not to mention tens of thousands of other Roman Catholics. "You will find one in almost every Catholic home," he said. "It's embedded into the Mexican culture. It's an important (symbol) -- an important part of your life as a churchgoer."

Over the years, however, the family's quest for a "Last

Supper" print proved frustrating.

"My mother was going to give us one," said Silvia Martinez, "but he said, 'No, let's go look ourselves.' He didn't like anything. He said they didn't look authentic."

Martinez would routinely dismiss the da Vinci copies, telling his wife, "I can do better than that."

In 1995, Silvia Martinez finally called her husband's bluff.

No problem.

Though not an expert in mural painting, Martinez decided to paint his re-creation directly onto the plaster wall "because it added to the uniqueness" of the effort.

As the years rolled by, Silvia Martinez admits she had doubts about whether her husband ever would finish the painting.

When he finally did, shortly before midnight on Jan. 31, Silvia Martinez said it didn't really register.

"I already was sleeping," she said, "when he came in and woke me up and said, 'Honey, it's done. It's finished, completely.' I said something and went back to sleep."

It wasn't until the next morning that she realized what her husband had accomplished.

"This is a milestone for him," she said. "It's something he really wanted to do, and I love it. I love it. To me, it makes our home more special."

Martinez chose acrylics over the oils used by da Vinci because "they dry faster and I could erase my mistakes easier."

He figured he could finish the job in a few months. His initial calculation, however, proved to be off by more than a decade.

The more Martinez studied the da Vinci painting, the more difficult the task at hand became. "It's not a painting you can just copy," he said. "The original doesn't exist anymore, as far as I'm concerned."

Many art experts agree with Martinez. Da Vinci used a wall in the dining hall at Santa Maria delle Grazie, a church and convent in Milan, Italy, as his canvas. Experts believe it took him three years, from 1495 to 1498, to finish the 15-by-29-foot mural.