Free Republic

A new high-resolution picture of Leonardo Da Vinci's masterpiece The Last Supper has been posted online, exposing the artist's finest brush strokes to conspiracy theorists across the internet. The Last Supper The high resolution image allows viewers to see the finer details of the masterpiece. At 16 billion pixels, the image is 1,600 times stronger than those produced by a typical 10 million pixel digital camera.

Hubby and I just had the privilege of viewing Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" in the Basilica of S. Mariua Delle Gazie (Milan, Italy). Even the best photographs of this masterpiece don't capture all the details. Question: There appears to be the image of a face in the folds of St. Barthomew's robe, to the lower left of his hand. He is the leftmost figure in the painting. St. Bartholmew was skinned alived and crucified upside down in the 8th century. The image in Da Vinci's painting is similar to St. Bartholomew as painted by Michelangelo in "The Last Judgement"--the...

A new novel, based "90 per cent on historical facts", depicts Leonardo Da Vinci as a heretic who painted his own face into The Last Supper, and claims that the painting portrays Saint Peter as a traitor and carries a blasphemous message. The Secret Supper, which has sold more than 500,000 copies in Europe, is set to rival The Da Vinci Code for conspiracy theories about one of the most famous figures in art history. The novel portrays Da Vinci as a Cathar, a member of a gnostic sect outlawed by the Roman Catholic Church. The story, which is being...

LITTLETON, Colorado, NOV. 28, 2004 (Zenit.org).- The story of the Holy Grail has spawned numerous works of fiction and fantasy, including popular films. The truth about the actual whereabouts of the cup is less clear. One scholar, Janice Bennett, author of "St. Laurence and the Holy Grail" (Ignatius), believes that the cup's history can be traced from St. Peter's journey to Rome, to St. Laurence in the third century, and then to its final resting place in Spain. Bennett holds a master's in Spanish literature from the University of Colorado, and a certificate in Advanced Bible Studies from the Catholic...

Despite the many indignities a night spent in a jail cell with a group of lefty protesters can visit upon a political writer, it is good for a couple things. First, it helps keep one's thumb on the pulse of the legion of Chomsky-fed college students, the young, restless, and bored who Democrats seem so intent on getting out to the polls this fall. Of course, these folks will never actually vote, but they make for colorful copy. Secondly, professional protesters, perhaps due to a lack of employment, give great movie recommendations. Take for example, The Last Supper, a quaint...