MILAN , Italy ( Reuters ) -- A new theory that Leonardo 's `` Last Supper '' might hide within it a depiction of Christ blessing the bread and wine has triggered so much interest that Web sites connected to the picture have crashed . Speculation over hidden meaning in Leonardo da Vinci 's famous fresco has crashed several Web sites . The famous fresco is already the focus of mythical speculation after author Dan Brown based his `` The Da Vinci Code '' book around the painting , arguing in the novel that Jesus married his follower , Mary Magdelene , and fathered a child . Now Slavisa Pesci , an information technologist and amateur scholar , says superimposing the `` Last Supper '' with its mirror-image throws up another picture containing a figure who looks like a Templar knight and another holding a small baby . `` I came across it by accident , from some of the details you can infer that we are not talking about chance but about a precise calculation , '' Pesci told journalists when he unveiled the theory earlier this week . Websites www.leonardodavinci.tv , www.codicedavinci.tv , www.cenacolo.biz and www.leonardo2007.com had 15 million hits on Thursday morning alone , organizers said , adding they were trying to provide a more powerful server for the sites . In the superimposed version , a figure on Christ 's left appears to be cradling a baby in its arms , Pesci said , but he made no suggestion this could be Christ 's child . Judas , whose imminent betrayal of Christ is the force breaking the right-hand line of the original fresco , appears in an empty space on the left in the reverse image version . And Pesci also suggests that the superimposed version shows a goblet before Christ and illustrates when Christ blessed bread and wine at a supper with his disciples for the first Eucharist . The original Da Vinci depicts Christ when he predicts that one among them will betray him . E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 Reuters . All rights reserved.This material may not be published , broadcast , rewritten , or redistributed .
Theory says Leonardo 's `` Last Supper '' might hide depiction of Christ . Mounting interest in theory has crashed Web sites connected to the picture . New image is produced by superimposing mirror image over original .