Table for the Nation hosts the Last Supper – Rochester

Rochester Cathedral is hosting an art installation on the Fenland Black Oak Table inspired by the Last Supper.

For one week only … the Last Supper on the Table for the Nation in Rochester Cathedral

This exhibition presented by Spirit Arts is called Come Eat with Me and is inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper and features icon-inspired roundels by twenty artists including two well-known icon painters.

It portrays the moment in time when Christ stated ‘One of you will betray me.’

The emotions portrayed by the 12 disciples vary from shock to disbelief.

Eighteen artists from Kent participated in painting ‘icon’ inspired roundels which portray the twelve disciples, and other important characters in the life of Christ, such as John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary.

Two well-known icon painters also joined the project to depict Christ and Mary Magdalene as actual icons.

Aylesford Pottery has also contributed by recreating vessels resembling first-century pottery.

The exhibition is free and can be seen until the 17th February.

The 13m long table is made from the wood of a 5,000 year old fossilised black oak tree discovered in a field at Wissington Fen in East Anglia in the year of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee.

Black oak is the nation’s rarest and most precious hardwood. It was decided that this incredible discovery needed to be preserved for future generations. Over ten years a team of privately funded specialist craftspeople created this sculptured table which was completed and unveiled in 2022 in the year of the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. It was dedicated to HM the Queen as a “Table for the Nation.”

The table has only been on public view once before at Ely Cathedral throughout 2022.