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After Ludovico il Moro became the Duke of Milan in 1494, he decided to make the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie his family's burial place. This is the context within which Leonardo was probably commissioned to decorate the monks' dining room, the refectory, with a depiction of the Last Supper, this being the popular subject in religious art of the last supper that Christ had with his disciples before his betrayal by disciple Judas Iscariot. It is not known precisely when Leonardo was given the commission. The painting was completed in 1498. As often with other major projects, Leonardo sought a new technical solution for the process of painting. He decided in favour of mixed media and painted over two ground layers using oil and tempera paints, as was done in panel painting. This particular technique is partially responsible for the fact that the disintegration of the work set in so early, given the unfavourable climatic conditions, as within 20 years of completion the wall had absorbed some water and sustained water damage.
Leonardo's 'The Last Supper' is one of the most famous works in the history of painting. Its quality was quickly recognised soon after its completion. Copies were produced of it, and contemporary writers reviewed it with praise. After conquering Milan in 1499, the French king wanted to remove it to France but was dissuaded by his advisers, because removing it would effectively have destroyed it.
Ever since the painting's completion, every generation has attempted in some way to preserve it. In World War II, in 1943, during an air raid, a bomb exploded in the monastery refectory/ The roof and wall to the painting's right were destroyed, but the painting survived mostly unscathed as it had been protected by sand bags. Since about 1980, extensive restoration work has been undertaken, which is particularly necessary by increasingly destructive air pollution. This restoration followed the disputed decision to remove all overpaintings and completions of missing sections and to preserve only those parts painted by Leonardo.
above: showing the scale of 'The Last Supper'
'The Last Supper' fresco, with the characters labelled, Christ is in the centre
'The Last Supper' preliminary drawing
One sketched design (shown above) shows that at first Leonardo planned originally to depict the moment at which the presence of a traitor is announced. He enlarged this scene somewhat to the right, depicting it in more detail. Next to Jesus, John is sitting leaning on the table. In keeping with tradition, Judas is depicted in front of the table and is rising in order to take the bread, thereby identifying himself as the traitor.
In [
117 11:59], on 31st December of the year 2000, Shannon O'Donnel, an ancestor of Kathryn Janeway, records the following 'log' as she drives away from Portage Cree: "December 31 2000, 11.15 p.m. I've got 95 miles of Interstate before I have to decide whether I head east or south but those 95 miles won't be uneventful. My guidebook tells me I'm not too far from Leonardo da Vinci's 'Last Supper', recreated entirely in corn." 
"....recreated entirely in corn" means presumably that the field would have been planted with corn, so it would not just have been corn on the cob but corn that had not yet been harvested. However, as it is the end of December, i.e. in winter when no live corn would exist, either the grown but now dead corn has been left unharvested, or else the corn has been harvested and only the corn, not on the cob, has been used - rather like small mosaic pieces. The pieces would also have to be coloured or in some way differentiated in order to pick out the outlines of the fresco's image.
Shannon in her car and view of the town sign through her windscreen [#117 11:59]
Janet's Star Trek Voyager Site