Leonardo Da Vinci's 'The Last Supper'
We've all heard the rumors, Mary, the Holy Grail, the Holy Bloodline of Jesus. The theory that Mary Magdalene was the person to Jesus's right and not John was the topic of a book known as "The Templar Revelation". This theory even played a central roll in the 2003 novel "The Da Vinci Code" and was even further sensationalized in a movie. The suggestion has even been made that the third person to the right of Jesus,(the only other non bearded male) could of been (Martha?)
Now lets look at what we know.
We know Da Vinci was commissioned to paint a depiction of the Last Supper, Jesus and his 12 Apostles, and there are only 13 people in the painting. The figure in question appears to be wearing male clothing, the same type of clothing as Jesus, for a woman to dress in this manner in that day under Jewish Law was Taboo.
Other paintings from that period (Castagno's 1447 and Ghirlandaio's 1480) also depicting John very boyishly as he was the youngest of the 12. It was common in that day to show neophytes as very young and even feminine, showing their position within the group. Leonardo also shows in his painting of "St John The Baptist" a male saint with overly feminine features and lacking manly qualities.
The painting was begun in 1495 and completed in 1498, the start date is not certain because the documents are from 1497 when the painting was almost finished.
Scholars had identified Jesus, Judas, Peter and John.
Then a manuscript showed up of Da Vinci's notes and sketches in which the artist names those depicted in the painting, from left to right as Bartholomew, James, son of Alphaeus, Andrew, Judas Iscariot, Peter, John, Thomas, James the Greater, Phillip, Matthew, Jude Thaddeus and last, Simon the Zealot.
Now I'm no expert but, it has always puzzled me how Da Vinci some 1462 years after the event, could of know for sure what any of them looked like, let alone if one was old enough to shave or was a woman or for sure what they ate or how they were dressed.
Rev Robert Fuller
