Is it true that Mary Magdalene appears in “The Last Supper” by Da Vinci, in the spot most people think is occupied by John?
No. Leonardo was simply following tradition in painting John as a beardless young man with long hair. His depiction was not a secret code or even unique; all other paintings of John contemporary to Leonardo depict him the same way. The world’s leading Leonardo expert, J.V. Field, art historian at the University of London and president of the Leonardo da Vinci Society, says: “As a historian, I can only say that… the theory is absurd.” Joseph Forte, art historian at Sarah Lawrence College, says, “I know of no serious scholar who has proposed this notion.
