The Last Supper depicts 12 apostles alongside Jesus.
Leonardo’s mural represents the biblical scene in which Jesus announces that one of his disciples will betray him. The twelve apostles react in distinct groups of three, creating a carefully balanced composition on either side of Christ. Jesus sits at the center, while the apostles display different expressions and gestures of shock, questioning, anger, and confusion.
The twelve figures are traditionally identified as Bartholomew, James the Lesser, Andrew, Judas Iscariot, Peter, John, Thomas, James the Greater, Philip, Matthew, Jude Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot. Jesus is not counted among the apostles, so the total number of people in the main group is 13.
A frequent quiz mistake is answering 13 because viewers count Jesus and the apostles together. Another complication is that copies and other artistic versions of the Last Supper may vary in details, but Leonardo’s original follows the traditional arrangement of Christ with the Twelve Apostles.