Was mary magdalene in the painting of the last supper?

Question

Was mary magdalene in the painting of the last supper?
in the da vinci code book there is written that a woman was present at the last supper of christ is this a true fact or just ficticious.

Answer

Please, please, please not this question again.brbrBefore we start, let me just say that I have studies da Vinci for many years now and have even handled some of his works myself. brbrHeres your answer.brbrbrOne of Leonardos most famous paintings, and famous during his own lifetime, the Last Supper is now but a shadow of its former self as it would have appeared on completion in . A combination of the unorthodox painting techniques employed by Leonardo, the pervading dampness of the refectory wall and repeated programmes of restoration that began as early as , have all contributed to the substantial deterioration of the painting. brbrHowever, the most recent campaign of restoration completed in seems to have halted the deterioration of the paintings surface and brought to light the original colour of the work. Furthermore, previously unobserved details are now apparent, such as the wallhangings and their patterns seen on the side walls of the room in which the Last Supper takes place and the objects on the table. brbrThe coats of arms that appear in the lunettes above the painting indicate that the painting was not commissioned by the monks of Santa Maria delle Grazie, but by Ludovico Sforza, who was also the patron of the new choir of the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, which was intended as a family mausoleum for Ludovico and his family. The fact that the Last Supper is described in glowing terms by Luca Pacioli in his Divina Proportione, dedicated to Ludovico Sforza in February , indicates that the painting was probably completed some time in . brbrPacioli mentions how the painting describes the moment at which Christ announced, One of you shall betray me Matthew . brbrMedium Oil and tempera on plaster brSize x cm brLocation Santa Maria delle Grazie brbrbrIn what was a highly innovative approach to the traditional representation of the subject, Leonardo concentrated on the different reactions of each of the Apostles, conveying their varied emotional responses through their facial expressions, poses and physical gestures. Surviving studies for the heads of some of the Apostles indicate that Leonardo studied the physiognomy and expression of each individual, working out every detail in drawings. brbrIn the painting, he took the unusual step of arranging the figures into groups of three in order to avoid the monotony of the elongated format of the composition as in more traditional representations of the theme such as Ghirlandaios Last Supper in the refectory of San Marco in Florence. brbrbrTHIS BIT IS VERY IMPORTANTbrbrThe identities of the Apostles are derived from the inscriptions with which they are accompanied in a contemporary copy of the painting, now in Ponte Capriasca, Lugano. They are generally excepted on this basis as from left to right, Bartholomew, James the Younger, Andrew, Judas, Peter, John, all on Christs left, and Thomas, James the Elder, Philip, Matthew, Thaddeus and Simon to the right of Christ. brbrIn the Last Supper, Leonardo employed a system of single point perspective as a means of unifying the composition, and replicating the real space of the refectory. In this way, the room in which the Last Supper takes place appears as a virtual extension of the room in which the viewer is situated. brbrThe perspective system also provided a means of highlighting the most important element of the composition as the orthogonals converge fairly precisely in the head of Christ. Leonardo avoided portraying the event as if viewed from below as was customary, and instead designed the composition according to an impossible ideal viewing point located at a distance of . metres from the painting at an approximate height of . metres above the groundbrbrbrPS.brbrST JOHN THE EVANGELIST IS TRADITIONALLY PAINTED TO LOOK FEMININE.