Teabing's "study" was like no study Sophie had ever seen. Six or seven times larger than even themost luxurious of office spaces, the knight's cabinet de travail resembled an ungainly hybrid ofscience laboratory, archival library, and indoor flea market. Lit by three overhead chandeliers, theboundless tile floor was dotted with clustered islands of worktables buried beneath books, artwork,artifacts, and a surprising amount of electronic gear—computers, projectors, microscopes, copymachines, and flatbed scanners.
"I converted the ballroom," Teabing said, looking sheepish as he shuffled into the room. "I havelittle occasion to dance."Sophie felt as if the entire night had become some kind of twilight zone where nothing was as sheexpected. "This is all for your work?""Learning the truth has become my life's love," Teabing said. "And the Sangreal is my favoritemistress."The Holy Grail is a woman, Sophie thought, her mind a collage of interrelated ideas that seemed tomake no sense. "You said you have a picture of this woman who you claim is the Holy Grail.""Yes, but it is not I who claim she is the Grail. Christ Himself made that claim.""Which one is the painting?" Sophie asked, scanning the walls.
"Hmmm..." Teabing made a show of seeming to have forgotten. "The Holy Grail. The Sangreal.
The Chalice." He wheeled suddenly and pointed to the far wall. On it hung an eight-foot-long printof The Last Supper, the same exact image Sophie had just been looking at. "There she is!"Sophie was certain she had missed something. "That's the same painting you just showed me."He winked. "I know, but the enlargement is so much more exciting. Don't you think?"Sophie turned to Langdon for help. "I'm lost."Langdon smiled. "As it turns out, the Holy Grail does indeed make an appearance in The LastSupper. Leonardo included her prominently.""Hold on," Sophie said. "You told me the Holy Grail is a woman. The Last Supper is a painting ofthirteen men.""Is it?" Teabing arched his eyebrows. "Take a closer look."Uncertain, Sophie made her way closer to the painting, scanning the thirteen figures—Jesus Christin the middle, six disciples on His left, and six on His right. "They're all men," she confirmed.
"Oh?" Teabing said. "How about the one seated in the place of honor, at the right hand of theLord?"Sophie examined the figure to Jesus' immediate right, focusing in. As she studied the person's faceand body, a wave of astonishment rose within her. The individual had flowing red hair, delicatefolded hands, and the hint of a bosom. It was, without a doubt... female.
"That's a woman!" Sophie exclaimed.
Teabing was laughing. "Surprise, surprise. Believe me, it's no mistake. Leonardo was skilled atpainting the difference between the sexes."Sophie could not take her eyes from the woman beside Christ. The Last Supper is supposed to bethirteen men. Who is this woman? Although Sophie had seen this classic image many times, shehad not once noticed this glaring discrepancy.
"Everyone misses it," Teabing said. "Our preconceived notions of this scene are so powerful thatour mind blocks out the incongruity and overrides our eyes.""It's known as skitoma," Langdon added. "The brain does it sometimes with powerful symbols.""Another reason you might have missed the woman," Teabing said, "is that many of thephotographs in art books were taken before 1954, when the details were still hidden beneath layersof grime and several restorative repaintings done by clumsy hands in the eighteenth century. Now,at last, the fresco has been cleaned down to Da Vinci's original layer of paint." He motioned to thephotograph. "Et voilà!"Sophie moved closer to the image. The woman to Jesus' right was young and pious-looking, with ademure face, beautiful red hair, and hands folded quietly. This is the woman who singlehandedlycould crumble the Church?
"Who is she?" Sophie asked.
"That, my dear," Teabing replied, "is Mary Magdalene."Sophie turned. "The prostitute?"Teabing drew a short breath, as if the word had injured him personally. "Magdalene was no suchthing. That unfortunate misconception is the legacy of a smear campaign launched by the earlyChurch. The Church needed to defame Mary Magdalene in order to cover up her dangeroussecret—her role as the Holy Grail.""Her role?""As I mentioned," Teabing clarified, "the early Church needed to convince the world that themortal prophet Jesus was a divine being. Therefore, any gospels that described earthly aspects ofJesus' life had to be omitted from the Bible. Unfortunately for the early editors, one particularlytroubling earthly theme kept recurring in the gospels. Mary Magdalene." He paused. "Morespecifically, her marriage to Jesus Christ.""I beg your pardon?" Sophie's eyes moved to Langdon and then back to Teabing.
"It's a matter of historical record," Teabing said, "and Da Vinci was certainly aware of that fact.
The Last Supper practically shouts at the viewer that Jesus and Magdalene were a pair."Sophie glanced back to the fresco.
"Notice that Jesus and Magdalene are clothed as mirror images of one another." Teabing pointed tothe two individuals in the center of the fresco.
Sophie was mesmerized. Sure enough, their clothes were inverse colors. Jesus wore a red robe andblue cloak; Mary Magdalene wore a blue robe and red cloak. Yin and yang.
"Venturing into the more bizarre," Teabing said, "note that Jesus and His bride appear to be joinedat the hip and are leaning away from one another as if to create this clearly delineated negativespace between them."Even before Teabing traced the contour for her, Sophie saw it—the indisputable V shape at thefocal point of the painting. It was the same symbol Langdon had drawn earlier for the Grail, thechalice, and the female womb.
"Finally," Teabing said, "if you view Jesus and Magdalene as compositional elements rather thanas people, you will see another obvious shape leap out at you." He paused. "A letter of thealphabet."Sophie saw it at once. To say the letter leapt out at her was an understatement. The letter wassuddenly all Sophie could see. Glaring in the center of the painting was the unquestionable outlineof an enormous, flawlessly formed letter M.
"A bit too perfect for coincidence, wouldn't you say?" Teabing asked.
Sophie was amazed. "Why is it there?"Teabing shrugged. "Conspiracy theorists will tell you it stands for Matrimonio or Mary Magdalene.
To be honest, nobody is certain. The only certainty is that the hidden M is no mistake. CountlessGrail-related works contain the hidden letter M—whether as watermarks, underpaintings, orcompositional allusions. The most blatant M, of course, is emblazoned on the altar at Our Lady ofParis in London, which was designed by a former Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, JeanCocteau."Sophie weighed the information. "I'll admit, the hidden M's are intriguing, although I assumenobody is claiming they are proof of Jesus' marriage to Magdalene.""No, no," Teabing said, going to a nearby table of books. "As I said earlier, the marriage of Jesusand Mary Magdalene is part of the historical record." He began pawing through his bookcollection. "Moreover, Jesus as a married man makes infinitely more sense than our standardbiblical view of Jesus as a bachelor.""Why?" Sophie asked.
"Because Jesus was a Jew," Langdon said, taking over while Teabing searched for his book, "andthe social decorum during that time virtually forbid a Jewish man to be unmarried. According toJewish custom, celibacy was condemned, and the obligation for a Jewish father was to find asuitable wife for his son. If Jesus were not married, at least one of the Bible's gospels would havementioned it and offered some explanation for His unnatural state of bachelorhood."Teabing located a huge book and pulled it toward him across the table. The leather-bound editionwas poster-sized, like a huge atlas. The cover read: The Gnostic Gospels. Teabing heaved it open,and Langdon and Sophie joined him. Sophie could see it contained photographs of what appearedto be magnified passages of ancient documents—tattered papyrus with handwritten text. She didnot recognize the ancient language, but the facing pages bore typed translations.
"These are photocopies of the Nag Hammadi and Dead Sea scrolls, which I mentioned earlier,"Teabing said. "The earliest Christian records. Troublingly, they do not match up with the gospels inthe Bible." Flipping toward the middle of the book, Teabing pointed to a passage. "The Gospel ofPhilip is always a good pl............