Which apostle throws his arms wide in a gesture of surprise in The Last Supper?

James the Greater throws his arms wide in a gesture of surprise in The Last Supper.

He is the second apostle to Jesus’s left, positioned between Thomas and Philip in the group immediately to the right of Christ from the viewer’s perspective. When Jesus announces that one of the disciples will betray him, James reacts dramatically by drawing back and spreading both arms, making his shock visible across the composition.

Leonardo designed the apostles’ gestures as a sequence of emotional responses rather than giving them identical poses. Thomas raises one finger, Philip draws his hands toward his chest, and James the Greater opens his arms in astonishment. Their different movements create a visual wave that directs attention toward Jesus at the center.

James the Greater is often confused with James the Less because both apostles appear in the painting. The figure with the wide, startled arms is James the Greater, traditionally identified as the son of Zebedee and brother of John. The apostolic names themselves rely partly on later identification traditions and copies.