In the early 1990s, architect Renzo Piano was commissioned to design the Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. A few years later Piano invited Lichtenstein to contribute a mural for the complex's Eucharistic chapel. In this preparatory drawing, Lichtenstein—who had frequently quoted modern art throughout his career—makes his first reference to a sacred work: Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper (c. 1495–98). In place of Christ and his apostles, however, Lichtenstein pictures a single, enigmatic flash of light that recalls his Pop explosions of the early 1960s. After the artist's death, Piano decided neither to replace his commission nor to complete the mural project without him.
