Slavisa Pesci, an Italian amateur scholar, professes to have found a hidden image in the famous 15th century painting that depicts Jesus Christ and his disciples having a final meal together on the night before he was crucified--and that image is a woman holding a child.
The Associated Press reports that Pesci found the image using high-tech tools. "It came to mind to scan 'The Last Supper' and print it on transparent paper, then superimpose it in reverse on the original image: the result is a new painting, with other figures," Slavisa Pesci said in a news conference.
Who is the woman? Some speculate it is Mary Magdalene, who can be seen on Christ's right side leaning toward him while holding a child.
It doesn't stop there. Pesci also claims that two figures on each end of the table become knights when he uses his high-tech scanning and printing method. He thinks they could be Knights Templar, which were considered guardians of the holy grail. Pesci says the chalice sitting in front of Christ is actually a self-portrait of Da Vinci in the middle of the painting.
Conspiracy theorists immediately reacted to the news, comparing the findings to the fictional plot of "The Da Vinci Code" in which Christ marries Mary Magdalene and they have a child, continuing the bloodline.
Not so fast! Art historian Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum in Vinci, Italy, told AP that the images have been so degraded by time that it is difficult to draw any new conclusions, noting that computers lend themselves to any conceivable alterations. "I don't like to be negative, because I admire discoveries reached scientifically," Vezzosi told AP. "If this computer analyst did not make a historic discovery, I hope he created something artistically beautiful."
That may be the case. AP says that the "woman" who appears in the superimposed version is actually Philip in the original, seated third on Christ's left.
--From the Editors at Netscape
