Warangal: Da Vinci's 'Last Supper' in the eye of a needle

Warangal: Warangal's renowned micro artist Mattewada Ajay Kumar reproduced the mural of 'Last Supper', one of the most famous paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, in the eye of a needle. The Last Supper was painted by Leonardo da Vinci between 1495 and 1498 for the Dominican monastery Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. The size of that mural is 4.6 meters X 8.8 meters.

The 45-year-old Ajay, a goldsmith by profession, has the uncanny knack of doing something special on special occasions. This time around he had come up with the 'Last Supper' on the eve of Good Friday. Based on da Vinci's painting Ajay created the micro sculpture, in which Jesus Christ breaks the bread with the 12 disciples and portrays the reactions of each apostle when Jesus said one of them would betray him. The height of the micro sculpture is 700 microns (0.7mm). He spent around six to eight hours for over five months to finish the micro sculptures.

He had to work hard to make the folding of clothes and sandals visible. He had to switch off the ceiling fans in his studio when sculpting minute details of the sculptures, as wind caused by fan lifts the dust which might settle on sculptures disturbing them.

The plates and tumblers on the table were made of 24 carats gold. Glass are 100 microns height and plates are 50 microns width. It took nearly 70 hours to make them. Sculpting the dining table consumed a lot of time and Ajay Kumar suffered from headache and eye strain.During intense work sessions he needed to hold his breath to keep his hands steady. When giving final touches to any micro sculpture he have to control breath and work with the rhythm of his heart beat. The Last Supper is made of a special wax formulated by Ajay Kumar, plastic powder, 24 carats gold, tools as delicate as the hair of a caterpillar.

In the past National Salt Satyagraha Memorial (NSSM), Dandi, Gujarat coordinator Sethu Das of IIT Bombay contacted Ajay Kumar on learning, through media, about a micro sculpture of Dandi March -'National Salt Satyagraha', he created in the eye of a needle.

Das requested Ajay Kumar to allow Dandi March micro art to be displayed permanently at NSSM responding to which the artist gifted the micro sculpture to the NSSM. The Prime Minister who dedicated the memorial to the nation in January 2019 appreciated Ajay Kumar for his amazing skills.

Ajay Kumar was the winner of first prize in an international micro sculpture contest, 'Art in a capsule' conducted in the year 2019 by a world renowned pharmaceutical company ACG Group. He won 5000 US Dollars prize money and a certificate of appreciation in the contest that witnessed participation of 88 artists from all over India, US and Europe.

The micro artist was among the five finalists in Global Arts Award-2020, Changhai organised in China in which around 150 artists from across the world participated. Ajay Kumar who was engaged in micro sculpture for the past 35 years created the World Record, National Record and entered into Limca Book of Records five times for his miniature works.

In 2019, NIT Warangal felicitated him and recognised him as the 3rd Micro Sculptor in the world and presented a citation. He received appreciation from many Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers and renowned persons for his work.