Screening Of A New Documentary THE SEARCH FOR THE LAST SUPPER Comes to The Sheen Center

A special screening of the documentary, "The Search for the Last Supper," about the restoration of a rare oil to canvas painting of the world famous portrait, will take place on Wednesday, March 14th at 6:30pm at The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture - 18 Bleecker Street, NYC (www.SheenCenter.org) it was announced today by Executive Director William Spencer Reilly. Following the screening, there will be a talkback with documentary filmmakers and art historians Prof. Jean-Pierre Isbouts and Dr. Christopher Brown and a reception sponsored by The General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA.

On the heels of the staggering news that Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi" painting recently sold for $450.3 million comes the revelation that for over 450 years, the Abbey of Tongerlo in Belgium has housed a canvas version of Leonardo's celebrated Last Supper fresco-showing what the severely damaged mural in Milan originally looked like. After an intense survey of archives in Italy, France and Belgium, art historians Isbouts and Brown reveal in a new documentary, "The Search for The Last Supper," and their book Young Leonardo (Thomas Dunne Press/St. Martin's Press, 2017), that the Abbey's oil-on-canvas painting was executed by Leonardo's Milan studio, involving his best associates, just eight years after the original fresco was completed.

News of the oil painting's discovery was made public during the European premiere of the film in Antwerp last December and the film is scheduled to air on U.S. public television stations across America beginning this Spring.

The painting on canvas is now in dire need of restoration, which is estimated to cost around 500,000 Euros ($612,270). This has inspired the launch of a U.S. fundraising effort in partnership with The King Baudouin Foundation United States (KBFUS), based in New York.The effort to save the painting will kick-off with this American premiere screening of the documentary, where proceeds will go to preserve the painting.

A suggested charitable donation for the restoration effort is $100, which is tax deductible. Checks should be made out to The King Baudouin Foundation United States (KBFUS), a U.S. public charity, which facilitates thoughtful, effective giving to Europe and Africa. Credit card donations can also be accepted on location at the event.

Corporate donations over $5,000 are welcome. (Please mail any donations to KBFUS, 10 Rockefeller Plaza -16th Floor, New York, NY 10020.) All who donate to the restoration effort at the event will receive a complimentary autographed copy of the book, Young Leonardo by Isbouts and Brown, which is the companion book to the film.

Tickets to the screening and talkback of "The Search for the Last Supper" at The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture are $12.00, which can be purchased by phone at 212-925-2812, in person at the box office, or via The Sheen Center's website, https://sheencenter.org. Tickets will also be available for purchase at the door via the Elizabeth Street lobby reception desk.