military career in Discours politiques et militaires (1587), a
patriotic account of France’s problems, advocating recon-
ciliation between Catholics and Protestants, combined
with his personal memoirs as a soldier. On his return to
France La Noue entered the service of Henry IV and died
in action.
Larivey, Pierre (c. 1540–1619) French playwright
Of Italian extraction, Larivey was born in Champagne. He
was responsible for the introduction of Italian Renaissance
comedy into France through his versions of nine plays by
various Italian authors. Six (Le Laquais, La Veuve, Les Es-
prits, Le Morfundu, Les Jaloux, Les Écoliers) were published
in 1579 and a further three in 1611.
Las Casas, Bartolomé de (1474–1566) Spanish priest
Las Casas was born in Seville and studied law before being
ordained (c. 1510). In Cuba from 1512 onwards he
quickly became incensed at the conquistadores’ treatment
of the Indians. From 1514 he devoted his life to the
preservation of Indian rights, pleading their cause before
the king (1515) and publishing books in their defense.
Most of Las Casas’s humanitarian schemes failed because
of Spanish opposition and because he had overestimated
the capabilities of the Indians, as highlighted by the fail-
ure of his model colony at Cumuná, Venezuela. Estab-
lished in 1520, Cumuná was destroyed by an Indian revolt
one year later. Back in Spain, Las Casas advised the Coun-
cil of the Indies (1539–44), obtaining several decrees pro-
tecting the Indians. His tenure of the Mexican bishopric of
Chiapas (1544–47) was rendered impossible by local
Spanish hostility. In 1550 he had a famous debate with the
humanist scholar Ginés de Sepúlveda (c. 1490–c. 1573)
concerning exploitation of aboriginal populations.
Further reading: Raup Wagner and Helen Rand
Parish, The Life and Writings of Bartolomé de las Casas (Al-
buquerque, N. Mex.: University of New Mexico Press,
1967).
Lassus, Orlando (1532–1594) Franco-Flemish composer
Lassus was born in Mons, and at the age of 12 he entered
the service of Ferrante Gonzaga, a general of Emperor
Charles V. Lassus accompanied him to Mantua, Sicily, and
Milan, and then went to Naples and Rome, becoming mae-
stro di cappella at the church of St. John Lateran in 1553.
A year later he left to visit his parents and in 1555 was in
Antwerp. In 1556 he was appointed as a singer at the
court of Duke Albrecht V in Munich, and in 1563 took
over the post of Kapellmeister, which he held until his
death. Lassus’s duties here included a wide range of litur-
gical responsibilities, as well as music for such special oc-
casions as state visits, banquets, and hunting parties. In
the years following his appointment he traveled much,
often at the invitation of kings and dukes, and was re-
ceived with high honor; in 1574 he received the Knight-
hood of the Golden Spur from Pope Gregory VIII. His
works were published in Venice, Antwerp, Paris, Frank-
furt, and Munich, and were widely disseminated.
Lassus was a prolific and versatile composer; his com-
positions embrace all 16th-century forms of vocal music
from drinking songs to Masses. About 200 Italian madri-
gals and villanelles, 150 chansons, and 90 German lieder
survive of his secular music, which covers a wide range of
moods; Lassus was a master in all three styles. He was
most prolific in motet composition; over 500 survive, in
which both liturgical and nonliturgical texts are set. As in
all Lassus’s music, the words of the motets generate most
of the expressive content of the composition. The largest
collection of motets is the posthumous Magnum opus mu-
sicum (1604). Around 60 Masses, 101 Magnificats, and
numerous other liturgical works survive, in which Las-
sus’s skillful counterpoint, rhetorical treatment of the text,
and succinct manner are demonstrated to great effect. He
was more cosmopolitan than his great contemporary
PALESTRINA, and their musical styles differ considerably.
Further reading: Gustave Reese, The New Grove High
Renaissance Masters: Josquin, Palestrina, Lassus, Byrd, Vic-
toria (London: Macmillan, 1984).Last Supper (Cenacolo) A major work by LEONARDO DA
VINCI, executed in the refectory of Sta. Maria delle Grazie,
Milan, between 1495 and 1497. One of Leonardo’s most
important paintings, the Last Supper is the work that ef-
fectively launched the High Renaissance. It differed from
the numerous earlier treatments of the same subject by
concentrating on the psychological content at the moment
that Christ revealed that one among the present company
would betray him. The figures of the apostles themselves
were based upon some of Leonardo’s contemporaries. Be-
cause Leonardo chose to paint with oil directly onto the
plaster, the painting deteriorated rapidly, even within
Leonardo’s own lifetime, and suffered further from inade-
quate restoration in the 18th and 19th centuries—as well
as from damage in the Napoleonic wars, in World War II,
and from the monks themselves, who cut a door through
it. A controversial restoration project began in 1977 and
was completed in 2000.
Further reading: Pinin Brambilla Barcilon et al,
Leonardo: The Last Supper (Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Univer-
sity Press, 2001); Leo Steinberg, Leonardo’s Incessant Last
Supper (New York: Zone Books, 2001).La Taille, Jean de (c. 1535–c. 1607) French dramatist
La Taille, like his younger brother Jacques (1542–62), also
a playwright, was born at Bondaroy. He is notable for hav-
ing written vernacular religious tragedies in the style of
SENECA—Saül le furieux (1572) and La Famine, ou les
Gibéonites (1573)—and an influential treatise on dramatic
theory, De l’art de la tragédie (1572), in which AristotelianLLaa TTaaiillllee,, JJeeaann ddee 2 27711