The resurrection of Robert Powell

 
17 September 2013

His last appearance at the Last Supper was when he starred in Jesus of Nazareth in the 1977 mini-series, but this time around Robert Powell has shed his robes for a dinner jacket.

Alistair Morrison’s recreation of Leonardo’s iconic painting features leading actors and directors as Jesus and his disciples.

1 John Alderton (Bartholomew), 2 Sir Richard Eyre (James), 3 Steven Berkoff (Andrew), 4 Tim Piggott-Smith (Peter), 5 Sir Antony Sher (Judas), 6 Julie Walters (Mary Magdalene), 7 Robert Powell (Jesus), 8 Colin Firth (James the Greater), 9 Tom Conti (Thomas), 10 Sir Michael Gambon (Philip), 11 Simon Callow (Matthew), 12 Peter Eyre (Jude Thaddeus), 13 Anthony Andrews (Simon the Zealot)

Julie Walters is the only woman in the portrait, sitting as Mary Magdalene — though there is still debate over whether the figure to Jesus’s right in the Da Vinci original was her or John the Apostle.

Antony Sher is to the left of Walters as Judas, not clutching a bag of silver, but wringing his hands.

And to the right of Jesus, Colin Firth strikes a concerned pose as James the Greater.

Morrison, who worked with fellow photographers Andrew Teare and Dean Mitchell to create the image, explained how he assembled his stars. “My first two choices were Robert Powell, who had to be Jesus, recreating the famous role played in Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth, and Julie Walters, who was asked to play Mary Magdalene, and they both readily agreed. Their enthusiasm and influence helped to bring together this outstanding group.”

With busy schedules making it impossible to get all the stars in the same place at the same time, eight were photographed together, with the other four pictured separately and the images knitted together.

Morrison’s 2011 photograph is to be sold as a print in a venture by the National Portrait Gallery to make available many of its famous works in limited-edition prints and museum-quality reproductions.

Other works on offer include a portrait of Kate Moss which the gallery commissioned from the late fashion photographer Corinne Day, and photographs of Bob Dylan by Barry Feinstein and David Bowie by David Wedgbury.

The Print Sales Gallery is at floor -3. For details, visit npg.org/shop

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