Secrets. Secrets of Leonardo da Vinci's fresco "The Last Supper"

“The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most famous images of the last meal of Jesus Christ with his disciples. He began work on it in 1495 or 1496, and finished it in 1498. This Renaissance masterpiece has been praised, studied and copied for over 500 years, and the fresco itself is still on the wall of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. Edition Business Insider talked about it with historian and author of the book “Leonardo da Vinci and the Last Supper” Ross King.

At one time the fresco was very popular

Despite the fact that today da Vinci is known as the author of various inventions, manuscripts, drawings and sketches, it was “The Last Supper” that ensured his fame during his lifetime. According to King, the image immediately became very popular in Europe. “It was the most copied painting of the next century. Not only paint was used, but also marble, wax and ceramics. Everyone wanted their own version. Leonardo finally created the work he dreamed of so much and which brought him fame,” he noted.

The composition is based on the rule of thirds. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The fresco depicts the reaction of the apostles to the words of Jesus: “And Truly I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” King noted that Da Vinci, more than anyone else, did justice to this episode. “He grouped the 13 figures in the image so that each would stand out with its gestures, but without distracting from the overall effect,” the historian added. Each of the figures turned out to be unique and memorable, and all thanks to the details.

The fresco miraculously managed to survive

“The Last Supper” has survived bombing, dampness and centuries of environmental damage. When asked why this 15th-century image is still so revered today, King replies that its preservation is almost a miracle. “Even a hundred years ago it was considered lost forever. And after the recent restoration we can appreciate its beauty. Even with some damage, it is a beautiful picture,” he added.

Several times the “Last Supper” was on the verge of destruction

There have been many dangers in the history of frescoes. When King Louis XII invaded Milan in 1499, he intended to cut the image from the cathedral wall and take it with him. By the middle of the 16th century, the fresco was considered completely destroyed due to moisture and delamination of paint.

In 1796, the French encroached on it again. This time in the face of the French Revolution. Then the troops used the monastery refectory as their base and expressed their anti-church thoughts in front of the image.

However, this is not all bad in his story. The city authorities used this premises to hold prisoners. In the 19th century, some people with good intentions tried to restore the fresco, but their attempt almost ended with the painting being torn into two parts. However, the most dramatic incident occurred on August 15, 1943, when Allied troops bombed the building. And although most of the church turned into a pile of rubble, “The Last Supper” remained unscathed.

It all started differently

Da Vinci began work on the fresco at a very inopportune time. Just a year before the start of the project, Louis XII started the First Italian War. “It was a terrible tragedy for Italy, the beginning of decades of occupation and struggle. For the artist, these events meant the loss of a commission that he had been working on for about 10 years - a huge bronze rider on a horse,” says King.

In those days, bronze was collected and melted into weapon steel. Da Vinci not only lost money due to the war, but also possible fame and reputation in artistic circles, which he so badly wanted to achieve. As compensation, he received an order for “The Last Supper,” although this did not seem to him a very good replacement.

Da Vinci thought he would never create a masterpiece again

“Now Leonardo is considered a genius who can do anything. But he had his disappointments and failures. In 1499 he was 42 years old. At the time, many contemporaries believed that he had wasted his potential. He was unable to complete several orders, as a result of which people began to consider the artist unreliable,” the historian comments. One of the poets mocked Da Vinci because he barely finished one painting in 10 years. Therefore, he really wanted to create something that would bring him fame and reputation among future generations. He managed to get all this after the Last Supper.

Da Vinci created a fresco on top of his early works

Thus, one of the apostles recalls one of his early works. Da Vinci was always on the lookout for interesting faces to capture. According to King, one of them can be found in the image Jacob Zebedee.

“He spreads his arms and looks at the bread and wine with his mouth open. There used to be a beautiful red chalk drawing there, created 5 years before. This posture indicates that in the place of the apostle there was a musician playing a stringed instrument. Leonardo loved music very much and made a similar sketch. Ten years later he used it for the figure of Jacob,” continues King.

Despite popular speculation, Mary Magdalene is most likely not in the image

For many years there has been speculation that it is Mary Magdalene who is depicted to the right of Jesus, and not John the Theologian. However, King believes that this is not the case. “John the Evangelist was the youngest apostle, who was always depicted behind Jesus - without a beard and slightly androgynous. Leonardo adhered to this description, because this was the ideal of beauty that constantly appeared in his work,” King notes.

According to the historian, Mary Magdalene did sometimes appear in some of the paintings depicting the Last Supper. For example, the Italian artist Fra Beato Angelico, in one of the frescoes in the monastery of San Marco in Florence, shows her preparing for communion along with the other apostles. Therefore, there is nothing surprising or strange in her appearances in such paintings. However, in this case, there is no need to look for her image.

Like other hidden symbols

“I am suspicious of the idea of ​​hidden messages and codes in Renaissance paintings. There are many things in them that we cannot understand or appreciate after 500 years, for example, the gestures of the apostles. Each of them may have its own meaning, but we will never know it,” says King.

He also advises against taking conspiracy theories in Dan Brown novels too seriously. In his opinion, da Vinci only wanted to convey emotions and drama, and not some secret symbols. This is the obsession of our age, not his.

However, the fresco contains several references to the life of the artist himself.

You may forget about hidden symbols and encrypted messages, but this does not mean that there are no interesting details on the fresco. King believes that the images of the apostles are in many ways reminiscent of da Vinci’s friends and his contemporaries, and the fresco can partly be considered an image of the entourage of Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan and the customer. Additionally, the tapestries in the fresco are reminiscent of the tapestries in his residence.

In the fresco, da Vinci depicted Jesus Christ as a vegetarian

Bread and wine during the Last Supper have special meaning for Christians. However, in the fresco, da Vinci added several details that today may seem strange - pieces of grilled eel. The artist himself was a vegetarian, so he added this to his painting.

“The Last Supper” is the apogee of the work of one of the most outstanding artists in the world

last supper Leonardo da Vinci’s painting is so large-scale and mysterious that for centuries advice and tips have been passed on about what angle to look at it from so as not to miss a single detail. It is believed that you need to move nine meters away from the canvas and rise 3.5 meters up. Such distances seem too large until you remember the enormous dimensions of the painting - 460 by 880 cm.

The name Leonardo is shrouded in many secrets. For centuries, the best minds of mankind have been trying to unravel the hidden intentions of his creations, but it is unlikely that it will ever be possible to fully comprehend the full depth of his genius. However, there are facts that art critics have no doubt about. So, they are sure that the painting was created in 1495-1498 by order of Leonardo’s patron, Duke Ludovico Sforza, who was advised to do this by his meek wife Beatrice d’Este. The fresco is in the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. This is where the unconditional truths end, and space for debate, opinions and reflection begins.

There is ambiguity even in the definition of the painting technique that da Vinci used when creating The Last Supper. Out of habit, I would like to call it a fresco, but this is not so. Fresco is painting on wet plaster, and the artist painted the picture on a dry wall in order to be able to make changes and additions to it in the future.

The work is located on the back wall of the monastery refectory. This arrangement is not strange or accidental: the theme of the picture is the last Easter dinner of Jesus Christ with his disciples and apostles. All depicted figures are located on one side of the table so that the viewer can see the face of each of them. The apostles are grouped in groups of three, and this symbol of three is found in other elements of the picture: in the triangles that themselves form from lines, in the number of windows behind Jesus. The work of Leonardo da Vinci differs from a number of paintings on this topic in that there is no halo over any of the characters he depicts; the viewer is invited to look at events from an exclusively human point of view.

The emotions of each of the apostles are unique and are not repeated by other participants in the action. The viewer has the opportunity to see that they all react in their own way to the words of Jesus Christ, who said:

“...Truly I say to you, one of you will betray Me.”

Leonardo da Vinci worked most carefully on the images of Christ and Judas. There is an interesting legend that they were written by the same person. They say that Leonardo saw the prototype of Jesus in a young singer from a church choir. Three years passed, and the artist met a completely degenerate man, from whom he painted Judas. The model’s confession turned out to be shocking: he was the same young singer, but in a few years he managed to move away from goodness and purity to debauchery and darkness.

The idea that good and evil coexist in our world can also be seen in the color scheme of the painting: the artist used techniques that are based on contrasts.

Many questions regarding The Last Supper remain unanswered, but one thing is certain - this creation is an important milestone in the development of painting of the 15th-16th centuries. Thus, it was possible to bring the depth of perspective to a new level and create a sense of volume, which even stereo cinema of our day can envy.

Leonardo da Vinci– the most mysterious and unstudied personality of past years. Some ascribe to him a gift from God and canonize him as a saint, while others, on the contrary, consider him an atheist who sold his soul to the devil. But the genius of the great Italian is undeniable, since everything that the hand of the great painter and engineer ever touched was instantly filled with hidden meaning. Today we will talk about the famous work "Last Supper" and the many secrets it hides.

Location and history of creation:

The famous fresco is in the church Santa Maria delle Grazie, located on the square of the same name in Milan. Or rather, on one of the walls of the refectory. According to historians, the artist specifically depicted in the picture exactly the same table and dishes that were in the church at that time. By this he tried to show that Jesus and Judas (good and evil) are much closer to people than they seem.

The painter received an order to paint the work from his patron, the Duke of Milan. Ludovico Sforza in 1495. The ruler was famous for his dissolute life and from a young age was surrounded by young bacchantes. The situation did not change at all because the Duke had a beautiful and modest wife. Beatrice d'Este, who sincerely loved her husband and, due to her meek disposition, could not contradict his way of life. We must admit that Ludovico Sforza he sincerely revered his wife and was attached to her in his own way. But the dissolute duke felt the true power of love only at the moment of the sudden death of his wife. The man's grief was so great that he did not leave his room for 15 days. And when I came out, the first thing I did was order Leonardo da Vinci fresco, which his late wife had once asked for, and forever stopped all entertainment at court.

The work was completed in 1498. Its dimensions were 880 by 460 cm. Many connoisseurs of the artist’s work agreed that it was best "Last Supper" You can see it if you move 9 meters to the side and rise 3.5 meters up. Moreover, there is something to see. Already during the author’s lifetime, the fresco was considered his best work. Although, calling the painting a fresco would be incorrect. The fact is that Leonardo da Vinci I wrote the work not on wet plaster, but on dry plaster, in order to be able to edit it several times. To do this, the artist applied a thick layer of egg tempra to the wall, which subsequently did a disservice, beginning to collapse just 20 years after the painting was painted. But more on that later.

Idea of ​​the piece:

"Last Supper" depicts the last Easter dinner of Jesus Christ with his disciples and apostles, which took place in Jerusalem on the eve of his arrest by the Romans. According to scripture, Jesus said during a meal that one of the apostles would betray him. Leonardo da Vinci I tried to depict the reaction of each of the students to the prophetic phrase of the Teacher. To do this, he walked around the city, talked to ordinary people, made them laugh, upset them, and encouraged them. And at the same time he observed the emotions on their faces. The author's goal was to depict the famous dinner from a purely human point of view. That is why he depicted everyone present in a row and did not draw a halo above anyone’s head (as other artists liked to do).

Now we have reached the most interesting part of the article: the secrets and features hidden in the work of the great author.

1. According to historians, the most difficult thing is Leonardo da Vinci given the writing of two characters: Jesus and Judas. The artist tried to make them the embodiment of good and evil, so for a long time he could not find suitable models. One day, an Italian saw a young singer in a church choir - so spiritual and pure that there was no doubt left: here he was - the prototype of Jesus for him. "Last Supper". But, despite the fact that the image of the Teacher was painted, Leonardo da Vinci I corrected it for a long time, considering it insufficiently perfect.

The last unwritten character in the picture was Judas. The artist spent hours wandering through the worst places, looking for a model to paint among the degraded people. And now, almost 3 years later, he got lucky. An absolutely degenerate guy was lying in a ditch, in a state of severe alcoholic intoxication. The artist ordered him to be brought to the studio. The man could hardly stand on his feet and had no idea where he was. However, after the image of Judas was painted, the drunkard approached the picture and admitted that he had already seen it before. To the author’s bewilderment, the man replied that three years ago he was completely different, led a correct lifestyle and sang in the church choir. It was then that some artist approached him with a proposal to paint Christ from him. Thus, according to historians, Jesus and Judas were based on the same person at different periods of his life. This once again emphasizes the fact that good and evil go so close that sometimes the line between them is imperceptible.

By the way, while working Leonardo da Vinci distracted by the abbot of the monastery, who constantly hurried the artist and argued that he should paint a picture for days, and not stand in front of it in thought. One day the painter could not stand it and promised the abbot to write off Judas from him if he did not stop interfering in the creative process.

2. The most discussed secret of the fresco is the figure of the disciple located at the right hand of Christ. It is believed that this is none other than Mary Magdalene and her location indicates the fact that she was not Jesus' mistress, as is commonly believed, but his legal wife. This fact is confirmed by the letter “M”, which is formed by the contours of the couple’s bodies. Supposedly it means the word “Matrimonio”, which translated means “marriage”. Some historians argue with this statement and insist that the signature is visible in the painting Leonardo da Vinci- letter "V". The first statement is supported by the mention that Mary Magdalene washed Christ’s feet and dried them with her hair. According to traditions, only a legal wife could do this. Moreover, it is believed that the woman was pregnant at the time of her husband’s execution and subsequently gave birth to a daughter, Sarah, who marked the beginning of the Merovingian dynasty.

3. Some scholars argue that the unusual arrangement of the students in the picture is not accidental. They say Leonardo da Vinci placed people by... zodiac signs. According to this legend, Jesus was a Capricorn and his beloved Mary Magdalene was a virgin.

4. It is impossible not to mention the fact that during the bombing during the Second World War, a shell that hit the church building destroyed almost everything except the wall on which the fresco was depicted. Although, the people themselves not only did not take care of the work, but also treated it in a truly barbaric manner. In 1500, a flood in the church caused irreparable damage to the painting. But instead of restoring the masterpiece, the monks in 1566 made a hole in the wall with the image "Last Supper" a door that "cut off" the characters' legs. A little later, the Milanese coat of arms was hung over the Savior’s head. And at the end of the 17th century, the refectory was turned into a stable. The already dilapidated fresco was covered with manure, and the French competed with each other: who would hit the head of one of the apostles with a brick. However, there were "Last Supper" and fans. The French king Francis I was so impressed by the work that he seriously thought about how to transport it to his home.

5. No less interesting are the thoughts of historians about the food depicted on the table. For example, near Judas Leonardo da Vinci depicted an overturned salt shaker (which at all times was considered a bad omen), as well as an empty plate. But the biggest point of controversy is still the fish in the picture. Contemporaries still cannot agree on what is painted on the fresco - a herring or an eel. Scientists believe that this ambiguity is not accidental. The artist specifically encrypted the hidden meaning in the painting. The fact is that in Italian “eel” is pronounced “aringa”. We add one more letter, and we get a completely different word - “arringa” (instruction). At the same time, the word "herring" is pronounced in northern Italy as "renga", which means "one who denies religion." For the atheist artist, the second interpretation is closer.

As you can see, in one single picture there are hidden many secrets and understatements, which more than one generation has been struggling to uncover. Many of them will remain unsolved. And contemporaries will only have to speculate about the great Italian in paint, marble, sand, trying to prolong the life of the fresco.

Plot

The Last Supper is the last meal of Jesus Christ with his 12 disciples. That evening, Jesus established the sacrament of the Eucharist, which consisted of the consecration of bread and wine, and preached about humility and love. The key event of the evening is the prediction of the betrayal of one of the students.

"The Last Supper". (wikimedia.org)

The closest companions of Jesus - those same apostles - are depicted in groups around Christ, sitting in the center. Bartholomew, Jacob Alfeev and Andrey; then Judas Iscariot, Peter and John; then Thomas, James Zebedee and Philip; and the last three are Matthew, Judas Thaddeus and Simon.

According to one version, the closest person to the right hand of Christ is not John, but Mary Magdalene. If we follow this hypothesis, then her position points to marriage with Christ. This is supported by the fact that Mary Magdalene washed Christ’s feet and dried them with her hair. Only a legal wife could do this.

Nikolai Ge “The Last Supper”, 1863. (wikimedia.org)

It is not known exactly what moment of the evening Da Vinci wanted to depict. Probably the reaction of the apostles to the words of Jesus about the impending betrayal of one of the disciples. The argument is the gesture of Christ: according to the prediction, the traitor will stretch out his hand to the food at the same time as the son of God, and the only “candidate” is Judas.

The images of Jesus and Judas were more difficult for Leonardo than others. The artist could not find suitable models. As a result, he based Christ on a singer in a church choir, and Judas on a drunken tramp, who, by the way, was also a singer in the past. There is even a version that Jesus and Judas were based on the same person at different periods of his life.

Context

For the end of the 15th century, when the fresco was created, the reproduced depth of perspective was a revolution that changed the direction of the development of Western painting. To be precise, “The Last Supper” is, rather, not a fresco, but a painting. The fact is that technically it was made on a dry wall, and not on wet plaster, as is the case with frescoes. Leonardo did this so that the images could be corrected. The fresco technique does not give the author the right to make mistakes.

Da Vinci received an order from his regular client, Duke Lodovico Sforza. The latter’s wife, Beatrice d’Este, who patiently endured her husband’s unbridled love for libertines, eventually died suddenly. The Last Supper was a kind of last will of the deceased.

Lodovico Sforza. (wikimedia.org)

Less than 20 years after the creation of the fresco, Da Vinci's work began to crumble due to humidity. After another 40 years, it was almost impossible to recognize the figures. Apparently, contemporaries were not particularly worried about the fate of the work. On the contrary, they in every possible way, wittingly or unwittingly, only worsened his condition. So, in the middle of the 17th century, when the churchmen needed a passage in the wall, they made it in such a way that Jesus lost his legs. Later, the opening was blocked with bricks, but the legs could not be restored.

The French king Francis I was so impressed by the work that he seriously thought about transporting it to his home. And during World War II, the fresco miraculously survived - a shell that hit the church building destroyed everything except the wall with Da Vinci’s work.

Santa Maria delle Grazie. (wikimedia.org)

“The Last Supper” was repeatedly tried to be restored, although not particularly successfully. As a result, by the 1970s it became obvious that it was time to act decisively, otherwise the masterpiece would be lost. Colossal work has been carried out over 21 years. Today, visitors to the refectory have only 15 minutes to contemplate the masterpiece, and tickets, of course, must be purchased in advance.

One of the geniuses of the Renaissance, a universal man, was born near Florence - a place where, at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, cultural, political and economic life was extremely rich. Thanks to the families of patrons (such as the Sforza and the Medici), who generously paid for art, Leonardo was able to create freely.

Da Vinci statue in Florence. (wikimedia.org)

Da Vinci was not a highly educated man. But his notebooks allow us to speak of him as a genius, whose range of interests extended extremely widely. Painting, sculpture, architecture, engineering, anatomy, philosophy. And so on and so forth. And the most important thing here is not the number of hobbies, but the degree of involvement in them. Da Vinci was an innovator. His progressive thought overturned the ideas of his contemporaries and set a new vector for the development of culture.

Truly, there is no secret in the world that would not someday become obvious, for manuscripts do not burn. And we continue to debunk one of the most unscrupulous historical myths regarding the name defamed by the Christian Church Mary Magdalene. Recently, coverage of this topic has become of fundamental importance for us, because Rigden Djappo himself speaks with great respect about her and her “great feat”, which we will definitely come to later, as evidenced by those presented in the book “ Sensei 4. Primordial Shambhala"materials describing the completely unknown history of this mysterious and beautiful woman. Very soon in the "Primordial Knowledge" section we will post the detailed content of this, in our opinion, priceless literary work.

In the meantime, following the article “One of the secrets of Mary Magdalene, the beloved disciple of Jesus Christ,” we continue the search for an inconvenient truth for the official Church, trying to figure out what and why they hid from us - ordinary people - for thousands of years, what can you do, we have to to speak directly, the so-called “clergy”. Having received the keys of Knowledge, “doors and eyes open” for any person, he begins to see the surrounding reality from a radically different angle, and first of all, it becomes unclear to him why these people call themselves “clergy” and hide so many secrets? If people knew the truth, a lot in this world could change, and we are convinced, for the better for people.

Today we turn to the monumental painting of Leonardo da Vinci" last supper", depicting the scene of the last supper of Jesus Christ with his disciples. It was written in the years 1495-1498 in the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. The reason for our conversion in it? Like many unbiased biblical scholars, we became very interested, why is it clear that there is a woman next to Jesus , while the Church for thousands of years has been urging people to believe in the version - about a certain Apostle John, from whose pen the fourth, one of the canonical Gospels “of John the Theologian” came out - the “beloved disciple” of the Savior.

So, let's look at the original first:

Location

Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy.

"Last Supper" (official information, according to Wikipedia)

General information

The dimensions of the image are approximately 460x880 cm, it is located in the refectory of the monastery, on the back wall. The theme is traditional for this type of premises. The opposite wall of the refectory is covered with a fresco by another master; Leonardo also put his hand to it.

Technique

He painted “The Last Supper” on a dry wall, and not on wet plaster, so the painting is not a fresco in the true sense of the word. The fresco cannot be altered during work, and Leonardo decided to cover the stone wall with a layer of resin, gabs and mastic, and then paint over this layer with tempera. Due to the chosen method, the painting began to deteriorate just a few years after the completion of the work.

Figures depicted

The apostles are depicted in groups of three, located around the figure of Christ sitting in the center. Groups of apostles, from left to right:

Bartholomew, Jacob Alfeev and Andrey;
Judas Iscariot (wearing green and blue clothes) , Peter and John (?);
Thomas, James Zebedee and Philip;
Matthew, Judas Thaddeus and Simon.

In the 19th century, notebooks by Leonardo da Vinci with the names of the apostles were found; previously only Judas, Peter, John and Christ had been identified with certainty.

Analysis of the picture

The work is believed to depict the moment when Jesus utters the words that one of the apostles will betray him (“and while they were eating, he said, “Truly I say to you, one of you will betray Me”), and the reaction of each of them. As in other depictions of the Last Supper of the time, Leonardo places those sitting at the table on one side so that the viewer can see their faces. Most previous writings on the subject excluded Judas, placing him alone at the opposite end of the table from where the other eleven apostles and Jesus sat, or depicting all the apostles except Judas with a halo. Judas clutches a small pouch, perhaps representing the silver he received for betraying Jesus, or an allusion to his role among the twelve apostles as treasurer. He was the only one with his elbow on the table. The knife in Peter's hand, pointing away from Christ, perhaps refers the viewer to the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane during the arrest of Christ. Jesus' gesture can be interpreted in two ways. According to the Bible, Jesus predicts that his betrayer will reach out to eat at the same time he does. Judas reaches for the dish, not noticing that Jesus is also extending his right hand to him. At the same time, Jesus points to bread and wine, which symbolize the sinless body and shed blood respectively.
The figure of Jesus is positioned and illuminated in such a way that the viewer's attention is drawn primarily to him. The head of Jesus is at a vanishing point for all lines of perspective.
The painting contains repeated references to the number three:

The apostles sit in groups of three;
behind Jesus there are three windows;
the contours of the figure of Christ resemble a triangle.

The light illuminating the entire scene does not come from the windows painted behind, but comes from the left, like the real light from the window on the left wall. In many places in the picture there is a golden ratio; for example, where Jesus and John, who is on his right, put their hands, the canvas is divided in this ratio.

"The Last Supper. Mary Magdalene sits next to Christ!" (Lynn Picknett, Clive Prince. "Leonardo da Vinci and the Brotherhood of Zion")

(a book worth reading for its analytical perspective)

There is one of the most famous - immortal - works of art in the world. Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper fresco is the only surviving painting in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria del Grazia. It is made on a wall that remained standing after the entire building was reduced to rubble as a result of Allied bombing during World War II. Although other remarkable artists have presented their versions of this biblical scene to the world - Nicolas Poussin and even such an idiosyncratic author as Salvador Dali - it is Leonardo’s creation that, for some reason, amazes the imagination more than any other painting. Variations on this theme can be seen everywhere, and they cover the entire spectrum of attitudes towards the topic: from admiration to ridicule.

Sometimes an image looks so familiar that it is practically not examined in detail, although it is open to the gaze of any viewer and requires more careful consideration: its true, deep meaning remains a closed book, and the viewer glances only at its cover.

It was this work of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) - the suffering genius of Renaissance Italy - that showed us the path that led to discoveries so exciting in their consequences that at first they seemed incredible. It is impossible to understand why entire generations of scientists did not notice what was available to our astonished gaze, why such explosive information patiently waited all this time for writers like us, remained outside the mainstream of historical or religious research and was not discovered.

To be consistent, we must return to the Last Supper and look at it with fresh, unbiased eyes. This is not the time to consider it in the light of familiar ideas about history and art. Now the moment has come when the view of a person who is completely unfamiliar with this so famous scene will be more appropriate - let the veil of bias fall from our eyes, let us allow ourselves to look at the picture in a new way.

The central figure, of course, is Jesus, whom Leonardo, in his notes relating to this work, calls the Savior. He thoughtfully looks down and slightly to his left, his hands are stretched out on the table in front of him, as if offering the viewer the gifts of the Last Supper. Since it was then, according to the New Testament, that Jesus introduced the sacrament of Communion, offering bread and wine to the disciples as his “flesh” and “blood,” the viewer has the right to expect that there should be a cup or goblet of wine on the table in front of him in order for the gesture to appear justified . Ultimately, for Christians, this supper immediately precedes the passion of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he fervently prays “let this cup pass from me...” - another association with the image of wine - blood - and also the holy blood shed before the Crucifixion for the atonement of sins of all humanity. Nevertheless, there is no wine before Jesus (and not even a symbolic amount of it on the entire table). Could these outstretched hands mean what in the vocabulary of artists is called an empty gesture?

Given the absence of wine, it is perhaps no coincidence that of all the bread on the table, very few are “broken.” Since Jesus himself associated with his flesh the bread to be broken in the supreme sacrament, is there not a subtle hint sent to us of the true nature of Jesus' suffering?

However, all this is just the tip of the iceberg of heresy reflected in this picture. According to the Gospel, the Apostle John the Theologian was physically so close to Jesus during this Supper that he leaned “to his chest.” However, in Leonardo this young man occupies a position completely different from that required by the “stage instructions” of the Gospel, but, on the contrary, exaggeratedly deviated from the Savior, bowing his head to the right. An unbiased viewer can be forgiven if he notices only these curious features in relation to a single image - the image of the Apostle John. But, although the artist, due to his own preferences, of course, was inclined towards the ideal of male beauty of a somewhat feminine type, there can be no other interpretations: at the moment we are looking at a woman. Everything about him is strikingly feminine. No matter how old and faded the image may be due to the age of the fresco, one cannot help but notice the tiny, graceful hands, delicate facial features, clearly female breasts and a gold necklace. This is a woman, precisely a woman, which is marked by attire that especially distinguishes her. The clothes on her are a mirror image of the clothes of the Savior: if he is wearing a blue chiton and a red cloak, then she is wearing a red chiton and a blue cloak. No one at the table wears clothing that is a mirror image of Jesus' clothing. And there are no other women at the table.

Central to the composition is the huge, widened letter “M”, which is formed by the figures of Jesus and this woman taken together. They seem to be literally connected at the hips, but they suffer because they diverge or even grow from one point in different directions. As far as we know, none of the academicians ever referred to this image other than “St. John”; they also did not notice the compositional form in the form of the letter “M”. Leonardo, as we have established in our research, was a magnificent psychologist who laughed at presenting to his patrons, who commissioned him a traditional biblical image, highly unorthodox images, knowing that people would calmly and unperturbedly look at the most monstrous heresy, since they usually only see what they want to see. If you have been called upon to write a Christian scene, and you have presented to the public something which at first sight is similar and responsive to their wishes, people will never look for ambiguous symbolism.

At the same time, Leonardo had to hope that perhaps there were others who shared his unusual interpretation of the New Testament, who would recognize secret symbolism in the painting. Or someone someday, some objective observer will one day understand the image of the mysterious woman associated with the letter “M”, and ask questions that clearly follow from this. Who was this “M” and why is she so important? Why did Leonardo risk his reputation—even his life, in those days when heretics were burning at the stake everywhere—to include her in a fundamental Christian scene? Whoever she is, her fate cannot but cause alarm as the outstretched hand cuts her gracefully arched neck. The threat contained in this gesture cannot be doubted.

The index finger of the other hand, raised right in front of the Savior’s face, threatens him with obvious passion. But both Jesus and “M” look like people who do not notice the threat, each of them is completely immersed in the world of their thoughts, each of them is serene and calm in their own way. But all together it looks as if the secret symbols were used not only to warn Jesus and the woman sitting next to him (?), but also to inform (or perhaps remind) the observer of some information that would be dangerous to make public in any other way. Did Leonardo use his creation to promulgate some special beliefs that would be simply madness to proclaim in the usual way? And could these beliefs be a message addressed to a much wider circle, and not just to his inner circle? Maybe they were intended for us, for the people of our time?

Young Apostle John or Mary Magdalene?

Let's get back to looking at this amazing creation. In the fresco on the right, from the observer's point of view, a tall bearded man is bent almost double, telling something to a student sitting at the edge of the table. At the same time, he almost completely turned his back to the Savior. The model for the image of this disciple - Saint Thaddeus or Saint Jude - was Leonardo himself. Note that images of Renaissance artists were usually either accidental or were made when the artist was a beautiful model. In this case, we are dealing with an example of the use of an image by an adherent of double entendre (double meaning). (He was preoccupied with finding the right model for each of the apostles, as can be seen from his rebellious offer to the most irate prior of St. Mary's to serve as a model for Judas.) So why did Leonardo portray himself as so clearly turning his back on Jesus?

Moreover. An unusual hand aims a dagger at the stomach of a student sitting just one person away from "M". This hand cannot belong to anyone sitting at the table, since such a bend is physically impossible for the people next to the image of the hand to hold the dagger in this position. However, what is truly striking is not the very fact of the existence of a hand that does not belong to the body, but the absence of any mention of it in the works about Leonardo that we have read: although this hand is mentioned in a couple of works, the authors do not find anything unusual in it. As in the case of the Apostle John, who looks like a woman, nothing could be more obvious - and nothing more strange - once you pay attention to this circumstance. But this irregularity most often escapes the attention of the observer simply because this fact is extraordinary and outrageous.

We often hear that Leonardo was a devout Christian whose religious paintings reflect the depth of his faith. As we can see, at least one of the paintings contains images that are very dubious from the point of view of an orthodox Christian. Our further research, as we will show, has established that nothing could be so far from the truth as the idea that Leonardo was a true believer - by implication, a believer according to the canons of the generally accepted or at least acceptable form of Christianity. Already from the curious anomalous features of one of his creations we see that he was trying to tell us about another layer of meaning in a familiar biblical scene, about another world of faith hidden in the generally accepted images of wall paintings in Milan.

Whatever the meaning of these heretical irregularities - and the significance of this fact cannot be exaggerated - they were absolutely incompatible with the orthodox tenets of Christianity. This in itself is unlikely to be news to many modern materialists/rationalists, since for them Leonardo was the first true scientist, a man who had no time for any superstitions, a man who was the antithesis of all mysticism and occultism. But they also could not understand what appeared before their eyes. Depicting the Last Supper without wine is tantamount to depicting a coronation scene without a crown: the result is either nonsense, or the picture is filled with other content, and to such an extent that it represents the author as an absolute heretic - a person who has faith, but a faith that contradicts the dogmas of Christianity. Perhaps not just different, but in a state of struggle with the dogmas of Christianity. And in other works of Leonardo we have discovered his own peculiar heretical predilections, expressed in carefully crafted relevant scenes, which he would hardly have written exactly as he was simply an atheist earning his living. There are too many of these deviations and symbols to be interpreted as the mockery of a skeptic forced to work according to an order, nor can they be called simply antics, such as, for example, the image of St. Peter with a red nose. What we see in the Last Supper and other works is the secret code of Leonardo da Vinci, which we believe has a striking connection with our modern world.

One can argue what Leonardo believed or did not believe, but his actions were not just the whim of a man, undoubtedly extraordinary, whose whole life was full of paradoxes. He was reserved, but at the same time the soul and life of society; he despised fortune tellers, but his papers indicate large sums paid to astrologers; he was considered a vegetarian and had a tender love for animals, but his tenderness rarely extended to humanity; he zealously dissected corpses and observed executions with the eyes of an anatomist, was a deep thinker and a master of riddles, tricks and hoaxes.

With such a contradictory inner world, it is likely that Leonardo's religious and philosophical views were unusual, even strange. For this reason alone, it is tempting to dismiss his heretical beliefs as something of no relevance to our modern times. It is generally accepted that Leonardo was an extremely gifted man, but the modern tendency to evaluate everything in terms of "era" leads to a significant underestimation of his achievements. After all, at the time when he was in his creative prime, even printing was a novelty. What can one lone inventor, living in such primitive times, offer to a world that is swimming in an ocean of information through the global network, to a world that, in a matter of seconds, exchanges information through telephone and fax with continents that in his time were not yet discovered?

There are two answers to this question. First: Leonardo was not, let's use the paradox, an ordinary genius. Most educated people know that he designed a flying machine and a primitive tank, but at the same time some of his inventions were so unusual for the time in which he lived that people with an eccentric turn of mind may imagine that he was given the power to foresee the future. His bicycle design, for example, became known only in the late sixties of the twentieth century. Unlike the painful trial-and-error evolution that the Victorian bicycle underwent, Leonardo da Vinci's road eater already had two wheels and a chain drive in its first edition. But what is even more striking is not the design of the mechanism, but the question of the reasons that prompted the invention of the wheel. Man has always wanted to fly like a bird, but the dream of balancing on two wheels and pressing the pedals, taking into account the deplorable state of the roads, already smacks of mysticism. (Remember, by the way, that unlike the dream of flying, it does not appear in any classical story.) Among many other statements about the future, Leonardo also predicted the appearance of the telephone.

Even if Leonardo were an even greater genius than the history books say, the question still remains unanswered: what possible knowledge could he have possessed if what he proposed made sense or became widespread only five centuries after his time. One can, of course, make the argument that the teachings of a first-century preacher would seem to have even less relevance to our time, but the indisputable fact remains: some ideas are universal and eternal, the truth, found or formulated, does not cease to be the truth after the passage of centuries. ..

(to be continued)

"The Da Vinci Code" (scandalous novel by Dan Brown)

Particularly heated debates erupted in the world after the film adaptation of Dan Brown's scandalous novel " The Da Vinci Code", where, among other things, he states that Mary Magdalene was not only the beloved disciple of Jesus, but also the consort, that is, the wife . The book has been translated into 44 languages ​​and published in a total circulation of more than 81 million copies. The Da Vinci Code tops the New York Times bestseller list and is considered by many to be the best book of the decade. The novel, written in the genre of an intellectual detective thriller, was able to awaken widespread interest in the legend of the Holy Grail and the place of Mary Magdalene in the history of Christianity.

However, the Christian world reacted very sharply to the release of the book and film; Dan Brown's version was destroyed with a thousand critical responses and comments. One of the zealous ministers of religion put it most eloquently, even calling for a boycott of the film: “piercingly anti-Christian, full of slander, crimes and historical and theological errors regarding Jesus, the Gospel and a hostile church.” However, putting aside religious narrow-mindedness, one thing can be said for sure: none of the critics was alive then, and cannot know the real history. It may be known to the one whose name is inscribed in the title of our site, and we will return to his words.

SKETCH FOR "THE LAST SUPPER"

Well, now let's look at Leonardo Da Vinci's blank, the surviving sketch for The Last Supper. The second figure from the left, in the top row, feminine outlines, smoother and lighter forms are clearly visible. Who is this if not a woman?

SUMMARY

Everyone sees what they want to see, this is one of the mysterious laws of human consciousness. And if a person’s consciousness believes that white is black, it will confidently prove that it is right. We were not present at the painting of the famous monumental painting by the brilliant artist, just as we were not present at the epoch-making events in the life of Jesus Christ, and therefore it would be fairer to end this article with the statement that we cannot know for sure whether it is John or Mary, but subjectively, in the picture Leonardo Da Vinci is a woman, and therefore none other than the beloved disciple of Jesus - Mary Magdalene. The Church’s opinion that the Apostle John the Theologian is in the picture is of the same degree of subjectivity. 50/50 - no more!!!

Prepared by Dato Gomarteli (Ukraine-Georgia)

PS: another reproduction, photo of the “Last Supper” mosaic from St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg, and again we see a woman: