New images claimed in ‘Last Supper’

MILAN, Italy – A computer analyst claims to have discovered new images in Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” one of the world’s most loved religious paintings.

But some experts are dismissing the claim as another spinoff of Dan Brown’s best-selling novel “The Da Vinci Code.”

Slavisa Pesci says he discovered new images in the 15th mural in the dining hall of Milan’s Santa Maria delle Grazie church by superimposing a reverse image on the original image.

When doing so, Pesci said he observed, for example, that the two figures on either end of the long table appear to become knights and that another figure appears to be holding an infant.

Pesci assigned no meaning to the images, saying he was not an art historian, but he suggested it might have reflected Da Vinci’s well-known interest in mathematics.

Da Vinci expert Alessandro Vezzosi was skeptical, saying “The Last Supper” was so degraded by time that it was difficult to draw any conclusions.

Reinterpretations of the painting have popped up ever since “The Da Vinci Code” fascinated readers and moviegoers with suggestions that one of the apostles sitting on Jesus’ right is Mary Magdalene and that they had a child.