Analyzing the Painting
To Jesus' immediate right are Judas, Peter, and John in another group of three. Judas is in shadow, clutching the bag of silver he was paid for betraying Jesus. He is also reaching for a piece of bread just as Jesus is saying to Thomas and James (seated to Jesus' left) that the betrayer would take a piece of bread from Jesus.
Peter appears very angry here and is holding a knife, both of which may be allusions to how he will react in Gethsemane when Jesus is betrayed and arrested. John, the youngest of the twelve apostles, appears to be swooning at the news.
Â
Dan Brown vs. Leonardo Da Vinci
With the stage set, let's consider the claim made by Dan Brown and followers of his ideas is that there is no cup in Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper. They use this as evidence for the idea that the "real" Holy Gail wasn't a cup at all, but Mary Magdalene who was married to Jesus and the mother of his child whose descendants were, among others, the Merovingian Dynasty. This terrible "secret" is supposed to be something that Catholic Church officials are willing to kill over.
The problem for this theory is that it's plainly false: Jesus is obviously pointing to a cup with his right hand, even as his left hand is pointing to a piece of bread (the Eucharist). Leonardo Da Vinci worked hard to make his art as realistic as possible so this isn't some magnificent, jewel-encrusted chalice used by kings; instead, it's a simple cup that would be used by a simple carpenter (though not of clay, as it probably would have been).
Anyone who has seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade will be familiar with what's going on here; Dan Brown, it seems, has chosen poorly.
No comments:
Post a Comment