Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, inventor, scientist, and possibly a secret composer. In 2007, Italian musician and computer technician Giovanni Maria Pala made an extraordinary claim: The Last Supper contains a hidden musical score.
At first glance, the famous mural in Milan’s Santa Maria delle Grazie appears to depict Jesus and his disciples at a simple meal. But Pala noticed something unusual - the placement of the hands of Jesus and the apostles, along with the loaves of bread, seemed too deliberately arranged. What if they weren’t just artistic choices, but musical notes?
Using a five-line musical staff, Pala mapped the bread and hands onto a musical scale. At first, the notes appeared to be a random jumble - until he played them in reverse, from right to left. While unusual, this aligns perfectly with Leonardo’s habit of mirror writing, as many of his notebooks were designed to be read backward in a mirror’s reflection. When played, the result is a 40-second composition that sounds like a solemn hymn - eerily fitting for the scene depicting Jesus’ final meal before his betrayal.
You can listen to the music at the beginning of this YouTube video, followed by an interview with Giovanni Maria Pala. The interview is in Italian, but you can turn on the auto-generated English subtitles if you're interested in listening.
The idea of Leonardo embedding music in his art isn’t as wild as it sounds. He wasn’t just a painter - he was a polymath, meaning he excelled in multiple fields including music, mathematics, engineering, and even palaeontology. Fellow Leonardo expert and art critic Alessandro Vezzosi called Pala’s hypothesis “plausible,” pointing out that da Vinci was already recognized as a talented musician and instrument-maker, as well as an artist.
It’s tempting to see this as a real-life version of The Da Vinci Code - a hidden message from Leonardo waiting to be uncovered. But as with many theories surrounding his work, there’s always the risk of seeing something that isn’t really there. While some remain skeptical, one thing is certain: the spaces in the painting are divided harmonically - which aligns with Leonardo’s obsession with mathematical proportions in both art and music.
Pala detailed his findings in his book, La Musica Celata (The Hidden Music), offering both evidence and musical transcriptions of the melody. Whether this discovery is a genuine hidden masterpiece or just a coincidence, it adds yet another layer to the endless mystery that is Leonardo da Vinci.
One thing’s for sure - 500 years later, Leonardo da Vinci is still keeping us guessing!
