The theme of The Last Supper
Da Vinci chose to depict the most poignant moment of the last supper; the scene of Jesus announcing that there is a traitor around them. Da Vinci chose to deviate from the norm of depicting the last suppers as a peaceful and benign scene. His "violent" version with the disciples all screaming and yelling, created a lot of controversy. Da Vinci chose to ignore another long established iconographical composition of the Christian Paintings- the arrangement of the disciples around a circular or square table. Da Vinci chose to show a frontal view so that the expression of each of the apostles was clear.
The Da Vinci Code?
A theory developed by Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince in their 1997 book called The Templar Revelation claims that the person to the right of Jesus is Mary Magdalene and not as most art historians claim, apostle John. This is the theory on which Dan Brown's 2003 novel “ The Da Vinci Code ” was based. Dan Brown claims that the figure has womanly bosom and delicate features and cannot and was never meant to be apostle John. Peter seems to be making a threatening gesture towards Mary's throat. The reason for which is that she was chosen to carry forward Jesus's legacy over him. The legacy is the best-kept secret in the history of mankind.
The Last Supper may or may not be the key to the biggest secret of Mankind, but it is most definitely one of the most important and remarkable pieces of Art the world has seen.
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