Judas’s face is in shadow in Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper.
Leonardo places Judas Iscariot among the other apostles rather than isolating him on the opposite side of the table, a major departure from many earlier Last Supper images. He is the fourth figure from the left, grouped with Peter and John, and recoils as Jesus announces that one disciple will betray him.
The shadow helps identify Judas, but it is not the only clue. He leans back, keeps his head lower than the surrounding figures, and clutches a small money bag, traditionally linked to the payment for his betrayal or to his role as the group’s treasurer. His hand also appears to be near a tipped saltcellar, a detail sometimes interpreted symbolically.
A frequent mistake is to confuse Judas with John, the youthful, beardless figure beside Peter. Leonardo’s Judas is the darker, withdrawn figure reaching toward the food while Jesus also reaches toward it.