Rumours and alternative theories
Some writers identify the person to Jesus' right not with the Apostle John (as is supposed by iconographical tradition and confirmed by art historians) but with Mary Magdalean. This theory was the topic of the book The Templar Revelation, and plays a central role in Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code (2003). They propose that the person in the painting seated, from a viewer’s point-of-view, to the left of Jesus is Mary Magdalaen rather than John the Apostle, as most art historians identify that person. By the same token the Apostle Philip (third figure to the right of Jesus, and the only other beardless male) could possibly be another woman (Martha?). Furthermore, they point out that the body angles between Jesus and the Apostle John form the letter M, a reference to the Magdalean, and that she and Jesus are dressed in similar but oppositely colored clothes, a negative image of each other. They also mention a number of other signs: a mystery knife pointed at one of the characters, that Leonardo da Vinci himself is in the painting with his face pointing away from Jesus, and that Jesus is confronted by an admonishing hand to his right making “the John gesture,” an index finger pointing up.


I have my own opinions concerning The Last Supper. I don't think it's an 'M', but a 'V' that DaVinci has used to symbolize the connection between John and Jesus. I don't think it's Mary sitting to the right of Christ, but John. In the painting "Virgin of the Rocks" Mary is showing that she had twins and both came from her womb. The twins are saying "There are TWO of us" and you can see that with their hands.