This may ruffle some feathers, but in a related vein, Michelangelo is also believed to inserted some imagery into his Sistine Chapel paintings. The most famous scene depicts "The Creation of Adam" - but many have noted the anatomical accoracy of God painted on a brain (some have attributed to "snark" by Michelangelo, insinuating that vice versa, man created God in mankind's mind). If you know anything about Michelangelo's background studying human anatomy, and his historical persona as a bit of a rabble rouser, it's not much of a stretch...

Via Wikipedia: Several hypotheses have been put forward about the meaning of The Creation of Adam's highly original composition, many of them taking Michelangelo's well-documented expertise in human anatomy as their starting point. In 1990, an Anderson, Indiana physician named Frank Lynn Meshberger, M.D. noted in the medical publication the Journal of the American Medical Association that the background figures and shapes portrayed behind the figure of God appeared to be an anatomically accurate picture of the human brain. Dr. Meshberger's interpretation has been discussed by Dr. Mark Lee Appler. On close examination, borders in the painting correlate with major sulci of the cerebrum in the inner and outer surface of the brain, the brain stem, the frontal lobe, the basilar artery, the pituitary gland and the optic chiasm.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Creation_of_Adam#Anatomical_theories]

More reading: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2010/05/27/michelangelos-secret-message-in-the-sistine-chapel-a-juxtaposition-of-god-and-the-human-brain/

And pictures...

Anonymous wrote:There is a spare hand here holding the knife because Mary has her hands together on the table & Peter has grabbed the wrist of the knife holder. I can't see who that hand belongs to

And if you look closely, in between Mary and Peter, you can see the eyes of the knife wielder. Spooky.
LDV was a genius.

Anonymous wrote:There is a spare hand here holding the knife because Mary has her hands together on the table & Peter has grabbed the wrist of the knife holder. I can't see who that hand belongs to

There is not an extra hand. Look closer.

There is a spare hand here holding the knife because Mary has her hands together on the table & Peter has grabbed the wrist of the knife holder. I can't see who that hand belongs to

It is a knife & it appears to be in Mary's hand,which is being grabbed on the wrist by the same apostle that has his other hand on Mary's neck in the blue. Note that there is only two half bread rolls on the whole table one in front of Jesus & the other at the far right side of the table & this mans body language suggests that he is the guilty one that betrayed Jesus. In the uproar you can see a man being held back he has one finger up indicating there is one traitor amongst them.

Okay, I can see it now. I guess I was thrown off by the weird angle of the wrist; it still looks more like someone else's hand reaching past. And maybe I missed that it is probably a knife because there do not seem to be any other utensils.

The Dan Brown thing was just a stray thought.

Another stray thought: I saw the actual painting once; it's amazing how our bombs blew off two walls and left the painting intact.

According to my count, there is no extra hand. OP?

The person is the apostle Peter and he is holding a knife, pointed away from Jesus.

I wouldn't rely on Dan Brown for theology.

Robin Williams passing the check to Billy Crystal.

It looks to me like it belongs to white haired guy who is second to Jesus' right (our left). And I believe the first individual on Jesus right is traditionally considered the apostle John, not Mary Magdalene.

I have a question about Da Vinci's Last Supper:

Inside the red box toward the left (which I added) is a hand that seems to be trying to pass a note (or maybe a piece of matzo) to someone. The hand could only belong to the person to Jesus's right (our left). But that person (Jesus's wife, Mary Magdalene, according to The Da Vinci Code) has hands clasped in front of him/her. Can anyone here tell me whose hand that is, or is the extra hand part of Leonardo's secret message?