A visitor wrote in:

"I read through your pages around the Da Vinci code. Interestingly, this is not the only last supper painting I have seen which depicts Mary M. Last fall, I was in Armenia (the first Christian nation) and the painting of last supper at the main church in Echmiadzin (equivelant to Vatican for Catholics) had Mary to the right of Jesus too. Perhaps there are more, and Leonardo was not the only one. (I dont know how old that was and it was NOT a copy of Leonardo)

Another book that might interest you (if you havent read it yet) is Focault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. Also a work of fiction, I found that to be a more richer and superior novel also talking of the grail and templars."

I found a copy of that painting, it appears to have been done by Hovnatan Hovnatanian (although I can't seem to verify that at the moment). He lived from 1730-1801.

You can see that "Mary" does look rather feminine ...

Visitor Opinion-
noticed that you mentioned Judas carrying the bag of money in in the last supper by da Vinci would conflict with the actual timeline and yet in The Last Supper Echmiadzin - Hovnatan Hovnatanian he is also seen to be carrying a bag. coincidence? was one copying the other? not undermined Jesus' powers, but is this how he knew who would betray Him? confusion!

My Response -
The Leonardo Da Vinci version was VERY famous. While Hovnatanian might not have sat and copied the Leonardo one stroke for stroke, I'm sure he was at least inspired by it ... remember, the Leonardo version was done back in 1495. This one was done in the late 1700s. Hovnatanian would certainly have known about if not studied the original.

Visitor Opinion-
I just wanted to point out that in the Hovnatan Hovnatanian depiction of the Last Supper, the feminine figure is to the left of Jesus (the viewer's right), not his right as is put forth in the visitor's comments.

My Response -
Oh right, I think what the visitor meant was that "Jesus also has a chick next to him" even though in Leonardo's the chick was on Jesus' right (our left looking at the painting) and in this one the chick is on Jesus' left (our right looking at the painting). But you are correct, the chick is on different sides of Jesus in the two paintings. I apologize to anyone who feels I'm blasphemous by calling Mary M a chick but it gets boring referring to her the same way in all of these pages. :)