Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” Hidden Images — Debunked and Rebunked

Da Vinci’s Last Supper: New conspiracy theory - Telegraph

I found this image analysis of "The Last Supper" by Da Vinci to be quite remarkable. Knowing that Da Vinci had a fondness for mirror writing, the amateur scholar took the digitized image, mirrored it, and combined that with the original at 50% transparency, just as Da Vinci might have done, had he had photoshop, a computer, and, say, electricity (and only if it had all "just worked" — four hundred year queues for tech support calls were not uncommon in those days).

So the amateur scholar published the following result, which seems to show a new woman holding a child, as well as the people at the end of the table being knights. or at least well-armored disciples. Proof positive that Jesus had a baby, or as the image indicates, twins.

Unfortunately, this isn’t quite what I got when I tried the same thing at home (see below), using what I take to be an accurate but more detailed and color-preserving replica of the original work

[I have a new baby at home myself, so mindless tasks like this are perfect for running on zero sleep].

Perhaps the amateur scholar had special photoshop filters, or perhaps he was selectively using parts of each mirror version, doing a little creative layer masking. He has none of the double-image of Jesus you’d expect, and the men at the far left and right are not mirror images of each other. Something is not quite right.

It turns out, beyond the apparent editing, there’s more than one visual solution as well, depending on how you shift the two mirror images relative to each other. Lacking instructions from Da Vinci, you must pick your own reference points to align to. It also turns out, there are three good ones which yield slightly different results, seen below. The first is using the thick white frame at the bottom of the image (as well as Jesus’ head), lining up the source and mirror images so that there is minimal ghosting/double-image. The second reference is the table legs. And the third is the vast background of the image, the windows, alcoves, and ceiling detail.

Aligning the thick white frame below the table gives Jesus a more or less normal head, which would seem to be desirable from Da Vinci’s point of view. It creates an interesting optical illusion, where Dining Jesus can be seen to look left or right, depending on what you expect (see below for a closeup).

What’s also interesting is that the image of John (or Mary Magdelene, if you like the Da Vinci Code) is being held in what looks like a headlock by the standing figure (Phillip?). People seem to be leaning away from Jesus, as if he just unleashed a holy wind. I don’t see a baby anymore. And the figure(s) on the ends look remarkably like an AD&D figurine (fighter/magic-user, not cleric) I once made in high school. Coincidence?

In version two, I aligned to images to clarify the table legs, which are remarkably symmetrical, more so than one would expect, even in Da Vinci’s day — perhaps a clue? Here, the knights are looking more like actual knights, though a little blue in the face. And the standing figure (more feminine now) does indeed seem to be holding a bundle. John looks more like a man in this version, beard and all. The fact that Jesus now has two distinct heads may or may not be a problem for your world view.

In this final example, I’ve aligned the images to clarify the background, windows, alcoves and ceiling. It’s also amazingly symmetric, indicating that Da Vinci may have in fact used mirrors, at least to lay out his perspective lines. The alignment is so flawless, it could only have been done with a very precise measuring system, or with a piece of reflective glass, perhaps on a small-scale mock-up of the work. This version is pretty close to the previous, though the "knights" are looking a bit more like surgeons in blue masks. Maybe someone had a killer cold — the 72 hour flu?

Noticing that there are three ways to align the symmetry gave me an interesting idea. When an artificial double-image has objects in the near, mid, and far-ground that seem to align or converge differently, that indicates that this could actually be an early 3D stereogram, with the left and right mirrored images intended to be seen by each eye separately, instead of combined, which might have been possible with a special viewing device — imagine a cross between binoculars and a kaleidoscope.

I can’t reproduce the effect on your 2D screen. But if you don’t have a 3D display, you might try putting the normal and mirrored images side by side instead of overlapping, using a piece of black construction paper perpendicular to your screen, down the middle, such that each eye can only see one image. Cross your eyes and see if you can find the Holy Grail popping out. Somehow, I doubt it.

Well, since we can play with the alignment so easily, I decided to focus in on Jesus to see what happens with minor pixel shifts of the normal and mirror images. ignoring all other reference points. It’s remarkable what you can do by simply shifting the mirror image a little bit left and right.

	The double-ended Jesus. Is he looking left or right? It all depends on what you expect to see… (if you’re only seeing one version, concentrate harder. The other one will come)
	The Cyclops Jesus, perhaps representing his third eye of enlightenment?
	Angry Jesus
	Really Angry, Fire and Brimstone Jesus
	Jesus, looking right at us. I swear I didn’t do it.
	A new face emerges, eyes closed, but not very Jesus like, given the mustache and funky hair. Is it young Da Vinci himself?
	Or is it the King? The wig may be 100 years premature. Or perhaps he was the trend setter…

By the way, if you’re wondering what happens with the original fresco, given its current condition and all, here’s a sample, showing the standing woman holding a head (John’s actually, and two heads is more like it) like she’s trying to keep her quiet. But in this case, Jesus looks a bit like something out the Planet of the Apes.