From mysterious numbers encoded by the most
famous artist of all time to an effective
middle-finger in a religious masterpiece,
today we look at 10 Secret Messages Hidden
in Famous Paintings!
Number 10.
Hidden Hymn
One of the world’s most analyzed paintings
still holds secrets we are just now discovering.
Painted between 1494 and 1498, Leonardo DaVinci’s
depiction of Jesus Christ’s "Last Supper"
has even been the premise for Hollywood’s
"The DaVinci Code," the fictional plot of
which revolves around the mysterious codes
purportedly hidden in this very famous work
. In real life, Giovanni Maria Pala, a 45-year-old
musician and computer technician from Lecce,
Italy, has uncovered a musical composition,
based on the placement of the loaves of bread
and the position of Jesus and the Apostles’
hands in the picture.
By superimposing the five lines of the musical
staff over the painting, Giovanni was able
to see a harmonic musical structure.
Other elements of the image gave him clues
to the rhythm of the piece.
Giovanni describes the music as sounding like
a requiem, a solemn composition for the dead.
A telling bit of evidence that DaVinci intended
this as a secret code is that the music must
be read from right to left, in just the same
unique way that Leonardo wrote in mirror image
for his secret diaries.
Number 9.
Secret Brain
In is teens, Michelangelo wanted so much to
depict the human figure accurately that he
began exhuming corpses from the church graveyard.
He would dissect them to draw their parts
from life, so to speak.
He later destroyed all his records and sketches,
but he left his anatomical knowledge for us
to decode in his greatest accomplishment,
the Sistine Chapel.
Michelangelo encoded an anatomically correct
representation of the human brain into the
central fresco panel of his "God Creating
Adam" Sistine Chapel painting, behind and
surrounding the image of God reaching out
to touch Adam’s finger.
The outline of the brain is here, and the
brain’s components, such as the cerebellum,
pituitary gland, and optic chiasm are all
depicted using the folds and wrinkles in God’s
cloak.
It is all there, just as a young Michelangelo
would have seen for himself in his churchyard
cadavers.
What message is Michelangelo’s code sending?
Is God granting Adam intelligence in addition
to life?
Is Adam creating God through his brain?
We can’t ask Michelangelo so unfortunately
we'll never know.
Number 8.
Madonna, Child, and UFO
An intriguing painting entitled "The Madonna
with Saint Giovanni" is thought to have been
painted by Domenico Ghirlandaio, a contemporary
of Botticelli.
Born in Florence, he lived from 1448-1494,
during the Italian Renaissance.
Michelangelo himself was once an apprentice
in Ghirlandaio’s shop.
"The Madonna with Saint Giovanni" is a rather
typical Madonna image, with Our Lady kneeling,
hands together in supplication to an infant
on the ground, the infant protected from the
floor by the Madonna’s red gown.
Into this ordinary, worshipful scene is injected
what appears to be a flying object in the
sky.
It has mass, shape, and substance.
There are structural details on the object’s
surface.
In modern times, like now, the first thing
we must ask ourselves is: "is it a spaceship?"
The mystery object is artistically positioned
to be noticed.
It is centered in the top right quarter of
the painting, just behind the Madonna, perfectly
framed.
The viewer’s eye is instinctively drawn
to it, as though it is the most important
object in the picture.
If so, what is the meaning of this code?
Some suggest space aliens; others are more
likely to think it is an awkward portrayal
of a star or other heavenly body.
Number 7.
Allegory of Spring
In 1482, during the Italian Renaissance, Sandro
Botticelli created what has been called one
of the most controversial paintings in history,
his Allegory of Spring, known as Primavera.
Commissioned by a wealthy and powerful Medici
family, the painting is now in the Uffizi
Galleria in Florence, Italy.
The immense work resembles a kind of Flemish
tapestry popular during the period.
Presented in the piece are nine near life-sized
mythological gods and goddesses gathered in
a fruit grove.
Zephyrus grasps a fleeing and fecund Chloris
— the goddess of Spring — looking back
in fright.
Cupid points his bow and arrow at a trio of
dancing Graces, dressed in sheer white veils.
Young Mercury stands guard with his sword.
Flora, with a flowered dress, walks through
the idyllic crowd with a wistful look.
Venus, the tall, central figure in blue, gazes
introspectively as the action circles around
her.
Philosophically, the Medici were Neoplatonists.
Their belief was that Venus ruled over divine
love.
They viewed her as a classical equivalent
to the Virgin Mary regarding what we call
holy or platonic love, as opposed to carnal
love.
This is coded in the painting by the framing
of Venus in the center, as in an altar.
Meanwhile, in the background of the image,
the attention to horticultural detail is astounding.
The scene accurately portrays over 500 scientifically
identified species of plants, including 190
different species of flowers, 130 species
of which have been identified by name.
The time spent encoding these plants so carefully
into this work clearly shows intent to pass
along an important message to someone.
Who?
Number 6.
Supper In The Café
Vincent Van Gogh’s "Café Terrace at Night,"
painted in 1888, reveals on the surface a
simple outdoor French restaurant with seated
guests and a central server.
It is a starry night, and the plaza has little
traffic.
The bright yellow and orange café is mostly
empty, save for the 12 patrons.
12?
Upon closer examination, the server appears
to have long hair.
Off to the left, halfway out the door, is
a dark figure, escaping the scene.
Jared Baxter, researcher and lecturer, reads
these codes as being an intentional tribute
to Da Vinci’s "Last Supper," with Jesus
— wearing a white tunic — serving the
12 Apostles, and with Judas leaving the scene
to betray Jesus to the Romans.
Further analysis of the image shows the existence
of multiple crosses, including one prominent
cross figure in the large window just behind
the server.
The painting’s artistic style is now known
as "Sacred Realism."
Two weeks after painting the "Café," Van
Gogh wrote to his brother Theo about his "terrible
need for — dare I say the word — for religion."
He worked to encode religious symbolism into
his art throughout his entire career.
Number 5.
Giving A Fig
To "give someone the fig" is an obscene gesture
equivalent to the middle finger in America.
It shows a severe lack of respect.
Michelangelo coded "the fig" itself into the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Pope Julius II engaged Michelangelo to design
and construct his Pope-worthy tomb in 1505.
It was a monumental task that would end up
taking 40 years.
Michelangelo began the job, spent a year importing
marble, produced over 40 statues; then Pope
Julius stopped paying him.
Michelangelo was quite angry and felt very
disrespected, but he continued.
Even as he remained working on the Pope’s
tomb without pay, it was Julius II who commissioned
Michelangelo to paint the ceiling frescoes
of the Sistine Chapel.
They argued.
They fought.
They disagreed.
But in the end, Michelangelo consented to
design and paint the ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel.
But there remained unsettling matters between
the two men.
Michelangelo had some thoughts about how to
handle the situation.
A tantalizing idea involved the image of the
Prophet Zechariah, accompanied by two angels
over his left shoulder.
As the Prophet Zechariah reads a book, rendered
by Michelangelo as a life-like portrait of
Pope Julius II, one of the two angels behind
him puts his right arm around the other angel’s
shoulder, droops his right index finger down,
and sticks his thumb in-between his index
finger and his middle finger.
This hand gesture is what is known as "giving
the fig."
It was as clear to others back then as "giving
the finger" is now.
But Michelangelo’s artistic genius makes
the gesture as subtle as a gentle breeze.
If Pope Julius ever noticed, he didn’t mention
it publicly or in his writing.
As far as we know, Michelangelo got paid for
the Sistine Chapel.
Number 4.
El Autobus
In 1925, Frida Kahlo was impaled on a metal
handrail when a bus in which she was riding
crashed head-on into a trolly car.
A blue-collar worker pulled the metal rail
from her body.
Her artwork often suggested that merely surviving
that horrible accident was a miracle.
She suffered ever afterward.
Kahlo’s "El Autobus" portrays five adults
and one child on a bus.
They are seated on a bench side by side, facing
the viewer, except the child, a boy, kneeling
and facing backward out the window.
There is nothing remarkable about this scene,
but it is captivating.
The mood is striking.
It is not ominous.
It is peaceful.
Ordinary.
Normal.
In moments from this peaceful scene some of
them will be torn apart forever.
Is that her secret message?
Number 3.
Crossroads Of Control
Mexican artist and muralist Diego Rivera held
a successful retrospective in 1931 which led
to several works, including one in New York
City.
In 1933, the Rockefeller Center commissioned
"Man at the Crossroads," and it was immediately
controversial.
Rivera had created a work that featured communist
Vladimir Lenin in a central role.
Wealthy American capitalist — and Rivera’s
patron — Nelson Rockefeller, Jr., demanded
of Rivera that Lenin be removed from the unfinished
mural on Rockefeller Center’s walls.
Rivera refused.
Rockefeller paid Rivera in full for his work
on the incomplete project and dismissed him,
then destroyed the mural.
But Rivera wasn’t finished.
Less than ten months after Rockefeller’s
destruction of "Man at the Crossroads," Rivera
unveiled an enormous 15.75’ x 37.5’ mural
entitled "Man, Controller of the Universe"
at the opening of the Museo del Palacio de
Bellas Artes in Mexico City.
The mural, completed in 1934, still survives
today.
Again, Rivera’s new mural compares and contrasts
the politics of communism and capitalism through
the use of images, iconography, and symbolism.
In this mural, the worker is central to the
composition and the message.
Resurrected are Lenin, Trotsky, and Marx.
Where it gets personal is in his portrayal
of the capitalistic wealthy, represented by
Nelson Rockefeller, Jr., himself.
Rockefeller, a married man who didn’t drink,
is seen in a bar with alcohol, associating
with a woman, and pictured with a dish of
syphilis bacteria floating above his head.
Diego Rivera’s codes are easy to decipher.
Number 2.
Proverbs
In 1559, on a panel only 3.8 feet by 5.3 feet
Pieter Bruegel the Elder set out to encode
the folly of the world.
Using oils, Bruegel painted at least 112 recognizable,
literal illustrations of Dutch idioms and
proverbs.
Flemish proverb illustration collections were
popular for over a century before Bruegel
created his largest work on the subject, most
well-known as "Netherlandish Proverbs."
We still use many of these proverbs and idioms
today, translated into English.
Picture "swimming against the tide."
Bruegel painted exactly that.
Or, "banging one’s head against the wall."
He illustrated that, too.
"Armed to the teeth."
"The die is cast."
Some well-known phrases, such as from the
Bible, are not translated exactly, such as
"casting roses before swine."
Other phrases are simply lost in translation,
like "the herring doesn’t fry here," meaning
"it’s not going according to plan."
It is nearly impossible for a modern English
speaker to derive this meaning from the literal
depiction on the painting today.
But the code is still there to be broken.
Other codes depicted require knowledge of
the contemporary customs and traditions.
One alternate title for the "Netherlandish
Proverbs" is "The Blue Cloak," a story about
a man who places a blue cloak upon his wife
on horseback, indicating to the village that
she is cuckolding him.
Another idiom of the time is "to marry under
the broomstick," which means to live together
without the sanctity of marriage.
To trick someone is to "shave the fool without
lather," and to be in terrible distress is
to "run like one’s backside is on fire."
So, don’t "gaze at the stork" and waste
your time.
Try to "kill two flies with one stroke" and
be efficient so that you don’t "fall from
the ox onto the rear end of a donkey."
That means hard times.
Number 1.
Paint By Numbers
The artistic King of Codes -- Leonardo Da
Vinci -- seems to have hidden secrets almost
everywhere in almost all of his pictures.
In this case, a microscope is required to
read the codes hidden in one of the most famous
and enigmatic paintings in the world.
Art historians say they have found tiny letters
and numerals inside the very eyes of the "Mona
Lisa."
Her right eye must be magnified many times
over to see the letters "LV."
Zoom in on her left eye to see various symbols,
not clearly defined, possibly "B" or "CE."
Appearing on a bridge arch behind Mona Lisa
seems to be the number "72," although some
say it could be "L2."
The 500-year age of the painting doesn't make
it any easier to see the various markings,
but Silvano Vinceti, President of Italy's
National Committee for Cultural Heritage,
is "confident they are not a mistake and were
put there by the artist."
But for what purpose?
And for whom?
