Secret codes of famous paintings. Leonardo da Vinci: the mirror code in the paintings of the artist The most interesting facts are

There are many rumors around the personality of Leonardo da Vinci. Some believe that the Italian was mentally ill, someone is sure that he communicated with aliens or practiced black magic. Yet everyone agrees that he was a genius and one of the best minds of mankind.

Many of da Vinci's works are known to the modern world: his inventions, paintings and experiments. The master left notes to his descendants, which historians called prose works.

For a long time, humanity could not decipher these messages, considering them to be an extinct language or abracadabra with no meaning. The answer to the code was discovered only at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. The statement “everything ingenious is simple” became the key this time as well. As it turned out, to read da Vinci's handwriting, it was worth using a mirror.

Displayed in it, the words acquired the usual, familiar to modern Italians, form, which made it possible to parse the notes without difficulty. Having done this, historians were horrified. Most of the stories are about the future.

Some phrases have already come true - da Vinci predicted the appearance:

• flying technology;
• telephone connection;
• cars;
• submarines;
• two-handed saw;
• agricultural machines.

Among the prophecies of a genius, there are those that plunge into Shock!

Several notes describe terrible events:

• "sea water will flood the cities, rising to the tops of the mountains";
• “the earth will open up, animals will come out of it, with which humanity will enter into a struggle”;
• "infants will be taken away and brutally killed";
• “birds and snakes will start fighting at high altitude”;
• “half of the men will lose their testicles and become barren”;
• “Some people will have to hide from daylight and live with families in caves.”

Leonardo also wrote about the fact that people learn to walk without moving (probably teleport), communicate with those who are not around (perhaps via Skype) and hear those who do not speak (maybe read minds).

Secrets of the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci

The master shrouded his canvases in mystery with the help of images and mysteries hidden in them. Art critics are still studying the masterpieces of the Renaissance master, and new clues are constantly published in the media.

The Argentine historian Hugo Conti was the first to decide to try the mirror method not only with da Vinci's prose, but also with his paintings. Conti, together with a group of volunteers, studied the works of the master for several months. The resulting amazing finds frighten and fascinate.

As it turned out, the characters in da Vinci's paintings do not look into the void. Their gestures or glances indicate certain places. If you attach a mirror to them, you can see strange images and figures.

Conti found a number of demons in the painting "Saint Anne with Madonna and baby Jesus".

On the canvas "John the Baptist" - a "tree of life" with an Indian deity.

On the famous "Mona Lisa" - a head in a helmet in the place where the girl points her finger.

"The Annunciation" is an angelic work of the artist.

There is also an opinion that near the head of the "Mona Lisa" you can find the faces of animals, and on the "Last Supper" - the image of the Holy Grail. The rest of the paintings are no less mystical.

Conti is sure that you can find the hidden drawing on each of them.

Anyone can do this. It is enough to print a photograph of the painting and drive a mirror over it until you stumble upon something strange. Or you can use Photoshop by selecting "mirror mode" and overlaying two layers with the same picture one on top of the other.

Some information about the canvases of Leonardo is no less amazing than the secrets stored in them.

The most interesting facts are:

If you look at the eyes of the "Mona Lisa" under a magnifying glass, you can see the numbers and letters. Art historians believe that they indicate the date of the portrait, years of life, as well as the initials of the artist.

The look of "Mona Lisa" is written in such a way that no matter what angle the viewer is standing, one gets the feeling that the girl is looking at him.

Judas and Christ, depicted at the Last Supper, are one person, they are both copied from a certain sitter.

There is still a lot of guesswork, which many people successfully disguise as "facts", but there is no reliable evidence for them.

Often, looking at the paintings of famous artists, we simply glide over them with our eyes. But if we look more closely at the picturesque canvases, we will find many unexpected things. The artists seem to be playing hide-and-seek with the audience: will they see everything depicted and unsaid? Here are just some of the masterpieces of painting in which there are secret signs.

And again the Mona Lisa

Usually, the secret in the portrait of Mona Lisa is seen in the enigmatic smile of the woman depicted on it. But recently, Italian scientists and art historians, when studying the eyes of Mona Lisa painted by the artist under a microscope, revealed letters and numbers. This is how the new "Da Vinci Code" was born.

The barely noticeable letters LV in the right eye probably mean the name of the artist. In the left eye of the Gioconda, the letters CE are visible (another reading is B). What they mean is still unclear. In the background of the painting is a landscape. The number 72 can be seen on the arch of the bridge when magnified. Perhaps the number 72 is taken from the Bible. But this hypothesis requires careful analysis. However, this cryptogram can also be the letter L with a two standing next to it.

Puzzles and music of The Last Supper

Despite the fact that Leonardo da Vinci's fresco "The Last Supper" in Milan is often the object of fiction and fantasy, many serious researchers find subtexts and "messages" in individual images and the picture as a whole.

By superimposing a mirrored translucent version of the painting on top of the original, the Hungarian information technologists obtained a new projection of the canvas. In the new image of the Last Supper, two figures resembling monk-knights have become visible at both ends of the table. Who is this? Historians say that these men look like the Templars. Well, to the left of Jesus, the outlines of a woman with a child in her arms are visible. Perhaps these are sketches for another fresco by Leonardo, where the Virgin Mary was depicted.

It is known that Leonardo da Vinci took notes from right to left, and even in a mirror image. So he encrypted many of his texts. And so the Italian composer Giovanni Maria Pala realized that the position of the hands of Christ and the apostles sitting at the table, as well as bread and other meager food on it, can be read like notes in a musical notation. When checking the notes sounded like a short melody.

But a researcher at one of the academies of the Vatican, Sabrina Galicia Cherubini, believes that she was able to solve the mathematical and astrological puzzle encrypted in The Last Supper. She argues that in the figures of Christ and the apostles and their location, Leonardo left us a message regarding the coming Flood and the end of the world after that. Terrible events will begin, though not soon: March 21, 4006; and will end on November 1 of the same year.

Divine Brain...

Michelangelo Buonarroti is perhaps the greatest painter, sculptor, architect and poet of the Italian Renaissance. During his life he managed to create many masterpieces. If Leonardo da Vinci left more projects and ideas, then Michelangelo embodied in painting and marble canvases and sculptures that have become a real treasure of mankind.

For our story, it is important that even as a 17-year-old boy, Michelangelo studied human anatomy in detail and for this he even dismembered corpses dug up in cemeteries by beggars who were ready for anything for money.

The murals of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, created by the brilliant Italian, are magnificent. The "Creation of Adam" fresco among these incredible in terms of area and the greatest artistic merit of the paintings on the ceiling is one of the iconic masterpieces of fine art in the history of mankind.

If we look closely at the right side of the fresco, which depicts God with angels in a cloud, stretching out his hand to Adam, we will see ... a drawing of a human brain in a section. Some art historians speak of a mere coincidence, but scholars argue that Michelangelo could hardly have painted this by accident.

In those days, any image had a second and even a third meaning. In addition, on the fresco you can even see the outlines of such parts of the brain as the optic nerve, pituitary gland, cerebellum. And in the very figure of Adam, stretching out his hand to God, the outlines of the Varoliyev bridge and the spine are distinguished. By the way, American experts, neuroanatomists, claim that Michelangelo really used his anatomical knowledge when working on this and other frescoes of the Sistine Chapel.

...and the human brain

But among the murals of the Sistine Chapel there is another fresco depicting God, which contains an encrypted image of the brain. Obviously, all these letters of Michelangelo say that there is a divine and human mind and that, as the Bible says, "in the beginning was the Word."

Art critics have noted that the depicted chest and neck of God have some anatomical distortions that no other human figure in the frescoes of the chapel has. Interestingly, if most of the painted figures seem to be illuminated diagonally from the lower left edge to the upper right, then the depicted light falls on the neck of God at a right angle.

Why did Michelangelo do this? He must have acted quite deliberately. After all, if you combine the scanned image of the human brain with the strange neck of God, you can see that the contours of both drawings almost completely coincide. At the same time, a strange rectangle of fabric, "hanging" to the middle of God's robes, is very similar to the spinal cord.

The great Michelangelo even painted individual organs of the human body in inconspicuous places on the vaults of the Sistine Chapel, such as human kidneys. By the way, it is known that Michelangelo suffered from urolithiasis.

Kabbalistic signs

Italian scholars believe that Michelangelo knew Judaism well, and in particular Kabbalah, its mystical teachings. He apparently met and conversed with Jewish sages during his service at the court of Aorenzo de' Medici the Magnificent in Florence. After all, studying the location of images of human bodies on the ceiling of the same Sistine Chapel, the researchers found Hebrew letters. This is no joke: for example, the figures of David and Goliath form the letter "gimel", symbolizing power in the mystical tradition of Kabbalah.

Perhaps the entire Sistine Chapel models the proportions of Solomon's temple in Jerusalem and is essentially a mystical message about the need for universal love.

Revenge of a genius

The difficult relationship between Michelangelo and Pope Julius II is well known. Michelangelo, as art historians now believe, decided to subtly take revenge on the wayward head of the Church. He wrote it on one of his paintings in the image of the prophet Zechariah. An angel behind the holy father shows the viewer (and therefore the pope behind him) an obscene gesture. The angel's fingers are folded into a fig. But such a gesture means not just “did you see this?”. This is an occult code that drives away evil spirits.

UFO over Madonna

Less well known to the general public, the Italian artist Domenico Ghirlandaio is of interest to us because of the strange detail in his painting Madonna with Saint Giovannino. In the picture above the left shoulder of the Virgin Mary, a drop of a very unusual shape flies in the sky. The artist tried to depict this immediately noticeable disk-shaped object in great detail. For what? And on the right side of the picture is a man who raised his right hand to his eyes. It seems to show us how brightly the mysterious object glows. By the way, the sun is placed in the upper left corner of the picture.

It should be noted that the "Madonna with Saint Giovannino" is just one of the many paintings and frescoes of the Renaissance and the Middle Ages, which depict strange unidentified flying objects in the sky.

112 proverbs

Pieter Brueghel the Elder's famous woodcut painting Flemish Proverbs is full of symbols associated with Dutch proverbs and expressions of the time. The researchers found and deciphered 112 painted sayings. Some expressions are well known among other peoples: “beat your head against the wall”, “arm yourself to the teeth”, “swim against the current”, and so on.

Some proverbs are very meaningful. So, in the picture, a man shearing sheep sits next to another cutting a pig. This is like an illustration of the expression "Someone shears sheep, and someone shears pigs" (one has an advantage over the other). But the same drawing can also mean the proverb “Shear, but don’t take off the skins,” that is, it calls not to overdo it, not to do stupid things.

We talked about only a part of the paintings that hide hints, ciphers and hidden meanings. All this is seen and understood by attentive people.

In the old days, when people were forbidden to express their opinions or beliefs in public (or it was considered rude to expose their true feelings to the public), paintings and sculptures were suitable objects that creators used to convey any messages to people. Some of the artists shared such an overview with the world of their political convictions and moral views, while others left allegories on religious themes in their canvases. But there were in the Renaissance and such artists who left the so-called "Easter eggs" for future generations. Today, all these hidden symbols are the subject of study for scientists.

1. Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper

Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper is one of the most talked about works of art among conspiracy theorists who regularly find hidden codes in the work. It turns out that The Last Supper is full of secret codes and meanings. Moreover, we will not talk about cryptograms, which, according to Dan Brown, the author of The Da Vinci Code, keep secrets about the future life of Jesus, and not even about statements that a mathematical and astrological code is hidden in the picture, which shows the day when the end of the world will begin (March 21, 4006).

Along with all the codes, Leonardo seems to have passed on music to his descendants in his work. At first glance, there is nothing mysterious about the buns scattered on the table. But nevertheless, a few years ago, the Italian computer technician Giovanni Maria Pala found in the picture ... the score. The position of the hands and bread can be interpreted as musical notes. And if you read these notes from right to left (Da Vinci often wrote in this way), you get a 40-second composition that sounds like a requiem.

2. Michelangelo, "God separating light from darkness"

One of the most famous works of art by another famous Renaissance artist, Michelangelo, is his huge painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. This truly gigantic masterpiece is divided into nine segments, each of which tells a different story from Genesis.

Michelangelo was a genius and a "true Renaissance man": painter, sculptor, architect, and, among other things, a specialist in human anatomy. This became known because of his sculptures, and also because the artist managed to hide several anatomical elements in his paintings. Even in his youth, Michelangelo dissected corpses dug up in the cemetery, and during this rather disgusting period of his life he learned a lot about the human body.

For example, if you look closely at the fragment called "God separating light from darkness", you can see that the neck and chin of God resemble the image of a human brain.

So why did Michelangelo hide anatomical sketches in his paintings. Most theorists believe that this was Michelangelo's protest against the church's refusal to accept scientific facts.

3. Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam

It seems that Michelangelo was fascinated by the human brain. In another popular fragment of his masterpiece on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, he inserted another image of the brain. Perhaps everyone has seen this painting, known as "The Creation of Adam" as it is one of the most replicated religious paintings of all time.

God, who is supported by twelve figures, reaches out and barely touches Adam's hand, giving him the spark of life. Initially, it was believed that the whole composition is only an allegory of the relationship between man and God, but some experts analyzed the picture and noticed that God and twelve figures are depicted against the background of a twisted cloak, which very much resembles the structure of the human brain.

This cannot be a mere coincidence, as Michelangelo even managed to depict some of the more complex parts of the brain, such as the cerebellum, optic nerve, and pituitary gland.

Café Terrace at Night is considered one of Van Gogh's most valuable paintings. The scene depicted on it is quite simple - it's night and a bunch of people with drinks in a half-empty cafe. But it turns out that there's more to the picture than the usual street scene. Many researchers believe that Van Gogh actually created his own version of the image of the Last Supper.

Those who support this theory attribute this possibility to Van Gogh's great religiosity. Also, everyone knows that Jesus celebrated his Last Supper with his twelve disciples.

Exactly twelve people are seated in a cafe in a Van Gogh painting, all centered around a long-haired man. Moreover, there are several hidden crosses in the painting, one of which is above the "Jesus".

Van Gogh never said that this painting of his had any religious symbolism, although in one letter to his brother Theo he wrote the following: “... this does not prevent me from terribly needing religion. So I go out at night to paint the stars, and I've always dreamed of painting with a group of my buddies while doing it."

5. Leonardo da Vinci, La Gioconda

This enigmatic masterpiece has puzzled researchers and art historians for centuries. Now, Italian scientists have added another aspect of intrigue by claiming that da Vinci left a series of very small letters and numbers in the painting. When viewed under a microscope, the letters LV can be seen in Mona Lisa's right eye.

And in the left eye there are also some symbols, but not as noticeable as the others. They resemble the letters CE or the letter B.

On the arch of the bridge, against the background of the picture, there is an inscription either “72”, or “L2” or the letter L, and the number 2. Also in the picture there is the number 149 and the fourth erased number after them.

Researchers suggest that this is probably the year the painting was created (if da Vinci was in Milan during the 1490s). But what all these numbers and letters really mean, only da Vinci himself knew.

6. Sandro Botticelli, "Spring"

This masterpiece by Botticelli has a lot to offer for those who are looking for hidden symbols and meaning in works of art. The origin of the painting is unclear. It was written either by order of Lorenzo de Medici, or somewhat later - for his cousin Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici. In any case, and perhaps more importantly, the painting was created at the court of one of the most progressive families of the day.

"Spring" is replete with characters from Roman mythology, which was done (according to the researchers) to display mythological allegories of the flourishing fertility of the world. Apart from this obvious explanation, there are many interpretations of the scene depicted in the painting. Some people think that it provides clues to the plot against the Medici family, while others think that the painting is associated with the pagan Renaissance and Neoplatonic philosophy.

Also, the picture is notable for the fact that it depicts a real botanical paradise. In the imaginary meadow depicted in "Primavera" (Spring), Botticelli painted an incredible amount of plants with an amazing degree of detail.

According to the botanists who did the research on the painting, it contains at least 500 different plants from over 200 different species. One theory suggests that these are all types of spring plants that grew near Florence in the 15th century.

7. Giorgione, The Tempest

The painting by the Venetian artist Giorgione "The Tempest" depicts two figures, a man and a woman, under the walls of an unknown city, on which a storm is approaching.

The picture looks very simple and clear, but over the years, many scientists have analyzed it and tried to find the best interpretation. The young man standing on the path was described as a soldier, a shepherd, a gypsy, or a young aristocrat. The woman sitting across from him was thought to be a gypsy, a prostitute, Eve or Mary, the mother of Jesus, on the road to Egypt. On the roof of one of the houses you can see a stork, which, according to some, is a symbol of the love of parents for their children.

Everything around seems to freeze in anticipation of the upcoming storm. According to the Italian scholar Salvatore Settis, the city in the background is an image of Paradise, and the two characters are Adam and Eve with their son Cain. In ancient Greek and Jewish mythology, lightning in the sky symbolizes God.

Settis believes that the painting shows the moment when God drove Adam and Eve out of Paradise. This is just one explanation for The Tempest, which many scholars regard as one of the most enigmatic works of art.

8. Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Flemish Proverbs

It would seem that there is nothing mysterious in this painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, but it is no less interesting than the others mentioned above. "Flemish proverbs" can be described as a literal interpretation of proverbs in Dutch. Brueghel was able to draw a visual representation of a huge number of proverbs that were popular at the time.

In total, scientists managed to identify about 112 proverbs, but it is very likely that there are many more, they are just forgotten today (which does not allow them to be identified), or they are very well hidden.

Fragment of the triptych by Hieronymus Bosch "The Garden of Earthly Delights", right wing "Hell", on which you can see the score on the buttocks of a sinner

The work of Hieronymus Bosch is known for its fantastic imagery, detailed landscapes, and illustrations of religious concepts. Bosch was a true master of the grotesque. Each painting by Basch looks like a test of people's ability to notice small and hidden details.

For example, just three years ago, a blogger named Amelia revealed on her Tumblr blog that she had found some hidden musical notes in one of the paintings. We are talking about this notorious fifth point of the sinner. Soon, the "Sinner's Hymn" appeared on the Internet, written according to these notes.

Bacchus is one of the most sensational paintings by Caravaggio. Today it can be seen in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The painting, painted in 1595, depicts the Roman god Bacchus (Dionysus) with a glass of wine, who, as it were, invites the viewer to join him.

It seems to be obvious enough, but eight years ago, a group of experts using modern reflectogram technology managed to see something peculiar inside a decanter of wine (in the lower left corner): Caravaggio painted a tiny self-portrait in this place.

The miniature portrait was discovered in 1922 when a restorer was cleaning the canvas. Then the scientists did not understand what they found under the centuries-old layers of dirt. But, thanks to modern technology, now everyone can see the funny image of Caravaggio.

Her enigmatic smile is mesmerizing. Some see it as divine beauty, others - secret signs, others - a challenge to norms and society. But everyone agrees on one thing - there is something mysterious and attractive in it.

What is the secret of the Mona Lisa? Versions are countless. Here are the most common and intriguing.

This enigmatic masterpiece has puzzled researchers and art historians for centuries. Now, Italian scientists have added another aspect of intrigue by claiming that da Vinci left a series of very small letters and numbers in the painting. When viewed under a microscope, the letters LV can be seen in Mona Lisa's right eye.

And in the left eye there are also some symbols, but not as noticeable as the others. They resemble the letters CE or the letter B.

On the arch of the bridge, against the background of the picture, there is an inscription either “72”, or “L2” or the letter L, and the number 2. Also in the picture there is the number 149 and the fourth erased number after them.

Today, this painting, 77x53 cm in size, is stored in the Louvre behind thick bulletproof glass. The image, made on a poplar board, is covered with a grid of craquelures. It survived a number of not very successful restorations and darkened noticeably over five centuries. However, the older the picture becomes, the more people it attracts: the Louvre is visited annually by 8-9 million people.

Yes, and Leonardo himself did not want to part with the Mona Lisa, and perhaps this is the first time in history when the author did not give the work to the customer, despite the fact that he took the fee. The first owner of the picture - after the author - King Francis I of France was also delighted with the portrait. He bought it from da Vinci for incredible money at that time - 4000 gold coins and placed it in Fontainebleau.

Napoleon was also fascinated by Madame Lisa (as he called Gioconda) and transferred her to his chambers in the Tuileries Palace. And the Italian Vincenzo Peruggia in 1911 stole a masterpiece from the Louvre, took it to his homeland and hid with her for two whole years until he was detained while trying to transfer the picture to the director of the Uffizi Gallery ... In a word, at all times the portrait of a Florentine lady attracted, hypnotized, delighted. ..

What is the secret of her attraction?

Version #1: classic

The first mention of the Mona Lisa we find in the author of the famous "Biographies" Giorgio Vasari. From his work, we learn that Leonardo undertook "to complete for Francesco del Giocondo a portrait of Mona Lisa, his wife, and after working on it for four years, left it incomplete."

The writer admired the skill of the artist, his ability to show "the smallest details that the subtlety of painting can convey", and most importantly, the smile, which "is so pleasant that it seems as if you are contemplating a divine rather than a human being." The art historian explains the secret of her charm by the fact that “while painting the portrait, he (Leonardo) kept people who played the lyre or sang, and there were always jesters who supported her cheerfulness and removed the melancholy that painting usually imparts to the portraits performed.” There is no doubt: Leonardo is an unsurpassed master, and the crown of his skill is this divine portrait. In the image of his heroine there is a duality inherent in life itself: the modesty of the pose is combined with a bold smile, which becomes a kind of challenge to society, canons, art ...

But is it really the wife of the silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo, whose surname became the second name of this mysterious lady? Is the story about the musicians who created the right mood for our heroine true? Skeptics dispute all this, referring to the fact that Vasari was an 8-year-old boy when Leonardo died. He could not personally know the artist or his model, so he presented only information given by the anonymous author of the first biography of Leonardo. Meanwhile, the writer and in other biographies there are controversial places. Take, for example, the story of Michelangelo's broken nose. Vasari writes that Pietro Torrigiani hit a classmate because of his talent, and Benvenuto Cellini explains the injury with his arrogance and arrogance: copying the frescoes of Masaccio, in the lesson he ridiculed every image, for which he got in the nose from Torrigiani. In favor of Cellini's version is the complex character of Buonarroti, about whom there were legends.

Version #2: Chinese mother

Lisa del Giocondo (nee Gherardini) really existed. Italian archaeologists even claim to have found her tomb in the monastery of Saint Ursula in Florence. But is she in the picture? A number of researchers claim that Leonardo painted the portrait from several models, because when he refused to give the painting to the Giocondo cloth merchant, it remained unfinished. The master improved his work all his life, adding features and other models - thus he received a collective portrait of the ideal woman of his era.

The Italian scientist Angelo Paratico went further. He is sure that Mona Lisa is Leonardo's mother, who was actually ... Chinese. The researcher spent 20 years in the East, studying the connection of local traditions with the Italian Renaissance, and found documents showing that Leonardo's father, the notary Piero, had a wealthy client, and that he had a slave that he brought from China. Her name was Katerina - she became the mother of a Renaissance genius. It is precisely by the fact that Eastern blood flowed in Leonardo's veins that the researcher explains the famous "Leonardo's handwriting" - the ability of the master to write from right to left (this is how entries in his diaries were made). The researcher also saw oriental features in the face of the model, and in the landscape behind her. Paratico proposes to exhume Leonardo's remains and analyze his DNA to confirm his theory.

The official version says that Leonardo was the son of the notary Piero and the "local peasant woman" Katerina. He could not marry a rootless woman, but married a girl from a noble family with a dowry, but she turned out to be barren. Katerina raised the child for the first few years of his life, and then the father took his son to his house. Almost nothing is known about Leonardo's mother. But, indeed, there is an opinion that the artist, separated from his mother in early childhood, tried all his life to recreate the image and smile of his mother in his paintings. This assumption was made by Sigmund Freud in the book “Childhood Memories. Leonardo da Vinci" and it has won many supporters among art historians.

Version #3: Mona Lisa is a man

Viewers often note that in the image of Mona Lisa, despite all the tenderness and modesty, there is some kind of masculinity, and the face of the young model, almost devoid of eyebrows and eyelashes, seems boyish. The famous researcher of the Mona Lisa Silvano Vincenti believes that this is no accident. He is sure that Leonardo posed ... a young man in a woman's dress. And this is none other than Salai, a student of da Vinci, painted by him in the paintings “John the Baptist” and “Angel in the Flesh”, where the young man is endowed with the same smile as Mona Lisa. The art historian, however, made such a conclusion not only because of the external similarity of the models, but after studying high-resolution photographs, which made it possible to discern Vincenti in the eyes of the model L and S - the first letters of the names of the author of the picture and the young man depicted on it, according to the expert .

"John the Baptist" Leonardo Da Vinci (Louvre)

This version is also supported by a special relationship - Vasari hinted at them - a model and an artist, which, perhaps, connected Leonardo and Salai. Da Vinci was unmarried and had no children. At the same time, there is a denunciation document where an anonymous person accuses the artist of sodomy over a certain 17-year-old boy, Jacopo Saltarelli.

Leonardo had several students, with some of them he was more than close, according to a number of researchers. Freud also talks about homosexuality of Leonardo, who supports this version with a psychiatric analysis of the biography and the diary of the genius of the Renaissance. Da Vinci's notes about Salai are also seen as an argument in favor. There is even a version that da Vinci left a portrait of Salai (since the painting is mentioned in the will of the master’s student), and from him the painting came to Francis I.

By the way, the same Silvano Vincenti put forward another assumption: as if the picture depicts a certain woman from the retinue of Ludovik Sforza, at whose court in Milan Leonardo worked as an architect and engineer in 1482-1499. This version appeared after Vincenti saw the numbers 149 on the back of the canvas. According to the researcher, this is the date the painting was painted, only the last number was erased. Traditionally, it is believed that the master began to paint Gioconda in 1503.

However, there are many other candidates for the title of Mona Lisa who compete with Salai: these are Isabella Gualandi, Ginevra Benci, Constanta d'Avalos, the whore Caterina Sforza, a certain secret mistress of Lorenzo Medici and even Leonardo's nurse.

Version number 4: Gioconda is Leonardo

Another unexpected theory hinted at by Freud was confirmed in the studies of the American Lillian Schwartz. Mona Lisa is a self-portrait, Lilian is sure. An artist and graphic consultant at the School of Visual Arts in New York in the 1980s compared the famous "Turin Self-Portrait" of a now quite elderly artist and a portrait of Mona Lisa and found that the proportions of the faces (head shape, distance between the eyes, forehead height) are the same.

And in 2009, Lillian, along with amateur historian Lynn Picknett, gave the public another incredible sensation: she claims that the Shroud of Turin is nothing more than a print of Leonardo's face, made using silver sulfate on the principle of a camera obscura.

However, not many supported Lillian in her research - these theories are not among the most popular, in contrast to the following assumption.

Version #5: Down Syndrome Masterpiece

Gioconda suffered from Down's disease - this was the conclusion in the 1970s by the English photographer Leo Vala after he came up with a method that allows you to "turn" the Mona Lisa in profile.

At the same time, the Danish doctor Finn Becker-Christianson diagnosed Gioconda with his diagnosis: congenital facial paralysis. An asymmetrical smile, in his opinion, speaks of mental disorders up to idiocy.

In 1991, the French sculptor Alain Roche decided to embody the Mona Lisa in marble, but nothing came of it. It turned out that from a physiological point of view, everything in the model is wrong: the face, the arms, and the shoulders. Then the sculptor turned to the physiologist, Professor Henri Greppo, who attracted Jean-Jacques Conte, a specialist in hand microsurgery. Together they came to the conclusion that the right hand of the mysterious woman does not rest on the left, because it is possibly shorter and could be prone to convulsions. Conclusion: the right half of the model's body is paralyzed, which means that the mysterious smile is also just a cramp.

The gynecologist Julio Cruz and Ermida collected a complete "medical record" of Gioconda in his book "A look at Gioconda through the eyes of a doctor." The result is such a terrible picture that it is not clear how this woman lived at all. According to various researchers, she suffered from alopecia (hair loss), high blood cholesterol, exposure of the neck of her teeth, loosening and falling out, and even alcoholism. She had Parkinson's disease, lipoma (a benign fatty tumor on her right arm), strabismus, cataracts and iris heterochromia (different eye color) and asthma.

However, who said that Leonardo was anatomically accurate - what if the secret of genius is precisely in this disproportion?

Version number 6: a child under the heart

There is another polar "medical" version - pregnancy. American gynecologist Kenneth D. Keel is sure that Mona Lisa crossed her arms over her stomach reflexively trying to protect her unborn baby. The probability is high, because Lisa Gherardini had five children (the first-born, by the way, was named Piero). A hint of the legitimacy of this version can be found in the title of the portrait: Ritratto di Monna Lisa del Giocondo (Italian) - "Portrait of Mrs. Lisa Giocondo." Monna is an abbreviation for ma donna - Madonna, mother of God (although it also means "my lady", lady). Art critics often explain the genius of the painting just by the fact that it depicts an earthly woman in the image of the Mother of God.

Version #7: Iconographic

However, the theory that the Mona Lisa is an icon where an earthly woman took the place of the Mother of God is popular in itself. This is the genius of the work and therefore it has become a symbol of the beginning of a new era in art. Previously, art served the church, power and nobility. Leonardo proves that the artist is above all this, that the most valuable thing is the creative idea of ​​the master. And the great idea is to show the duality of the world, and the image of Mona Lisa, which combines divine and earthly beauty, serves as a means for this.

Version #8: Leonardo is the creator of 3D

This combination was achieved using a special technique invented by Leonardo - sfumato (from Italian - "disappearing like smoke"). It was this pictorial technique, when paints are applied layer by layer, that allowed Leonardo to create an aerial perspective in the picture. The artist applied countless layers of these layers, and each was almost transparent. Thanks to this technique, light is reflected and scattered across the canvas in different ways - depending on the angle of view and the angle of incidence of light. Therefore, the facial expression of the model is constantly changing.

Mona Lisa is the first 3D painting in history, the researchers conclude. Another technical breakthrough of a genius who foresaw and tried to bring to life many inventions embodied centuries later (aircraft, tank, diving suit, etc.). This is also evidenced by the version of the portrait kept in the Madrid Prado Museum, written either by da Vinci himself or by his student. It depicts the same model - only the angle is shifted by 69 cm. Thus, experts believe, they were looking for the right point in the image, which will give the 3D effect.

Version number 9: secret signs

Secret signs are a favorite topic of Mona Lisa researchers. Leonardo is not just an artist, he is an engineer, inventor, scientist, writer, and he probably encoded some universal secrets in his best pictorial creation. The most daring and incredible version was made in the book, and then in the movie The Da Vinci Code. This is, of course, a fictional novel. However, researchers are constantly building no less fantastic assumptions based on certain symbols found in the picture.

Many assumptions are connected with the fact that another one is hidden under the image of Mona Lisa. For example, the figure of an angel, or a feather in the hands of a model. There is also a curious version of Valery Chudinov, who discovered in the Mona Lisa the words Yara Mara - the name of the Russian pagan goddess.

Version #10: cropped landscape

Many versions are connected with the landscape, against which the Mona Lisa is depicted. The researcher Igor Ladov discovered a cyclicity in it: it seems that it is worth drawing several lines to connect the edges of the landscape. Just a couple of centimeters is not enough for everything to fit together. But after all, on the version of the painting from the Prado Museum there are columns that, apparently, were in the original. Nobody knows who cut the picture. If they are returned, the image becomes a cyclical landscape, which symbolizes that human life (in the global sense) is enchanted just like everything else in nature...

It seems that there are as many versions of the mystery of the Mona Lisa as there are people trying to explore the masterpiece. There was a place for everything: from admiration for unearthly beauty to the recognition of complete pathology. Everyone finds something of their own in Gioconda, and perhaps this is where the multidimensionality and semantic layering of the canvas manifested itself, which gives everyone the opportunity to turn on their imagination. Meanwhile, the secret of Mona Lisa remains the property of this mysterious lady, with a slight smile on her lips...

Today, experts say that the elusive half-smile of the Gioconda is a deliberately created effect that Leonardo da Vinci used more than once. This version arose after the recent discovery of an early work, La Bella Principessa (The Beautiful Princess), in which the artist uses a similar optical illusion.

The mystery of Mona Lisa's smile is that it is noticeable only when the viewer looks above the woman's mouth in the portrait, but once you look at the smile itself, it disappears. Scientists explain this with an optical illusion, which is created by a complex combination of colors and shades. This is facilitated by the features of the peripheral vision of a person.

Da Vinci created the effect of an elusive smile through the use of the so-called “sfumato” (“obscure”, “indefinite”) technique - blurry outlines and specially applied shadows around the lips and eyes visually change depending on the angle from which a person looks at the picture. So the smile comes and goes.

For a long time, scientists argued about whether this effect was created consciously and intentionally. Discovered in 2009, the portrait of La Bella Principessa proves that da Vinci practiced this technique long before the creation of the Mona Lisa. On the face of the girl - the same barely noticeable half-smile, like Mona Lisa.

Comparing the two paintings, scientists concluded that da Vinci also applied the effect of peripheral vision there: the shape of the lips visually changes depending on the angle of view. If you look directly at the lips - the smile is not noticeable, but if you look higher - the corners of the mouth seem to rise up, and the smile appears again.

Professor of psychology and expert in visual perception Alessandro Soranzo (Great Britain) writes: "A smile disappears as soon as the viewer tries to catch it." Under his leadership, scientists conducted a series of experiments.

To demonstrate the optical illusion in action, volunteers were asked to look at da Vinci's canvases from different distances and, for comparison, at the painting by his contemporary Pollaiolo "Portrait of a Girl". The smile was only noticeable in da Vinci paintings, depending on a certain angle of view. When blurring images, the same effect was observed. Professor Soranzo has no doubt that this is an optical illusion deliberately created by da Vinci, and he developed this technique over several years.

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Works of art can carry some hidden meaning, which can sometimes be deciphered. We offer you a selection of ten masterpieces of painting in which we managed to find secret signs.

1. "Mona Lisa": in her eyes there is a hidden code

As a rule, the power of the "Mona Lisa" is attributed to the intriguing smile depicted on the face of a woman. However, historians from Italy have found that if you look at the Gioconda's eyes under a microscope, you can see letters and numbers.

Experts say that these subtle numbers and letters represent something like the Da Vinci Code in real life: the letters "LV" are visible in the right eye, which could very well mean the name of the artist, Leonardo da Vinci, and there are symbols in the left eye too , but they have not yet been identified. It is very difficult to see them clearly, but most likely they are either the letters "CE" or the letter "B".

In the arch of the bridge in the background you can see the number 72, or it can be the letter "L" and a deuce. In addition, the painting shows the number 149 with a 4 erased, which may indicate the date of the painting - da Vinci painted it during his stay in Milan in the 1490s.

It is important to remember that the painting is almost 500 years old, so the hidden signs are not as sharp and clear as they could be immediately after its creation.

2. "The Last Supper": hidden in the picture are mathematical and astrological puzzles and a musical melody

The Last Supper has been the subject of much speculation, usually centered on supposed hidden messages and allusions encoded in the painting.

Slavisa Pesci, an information technologist, achieved an interesting visual effect by superimposing a mirrored translucent version of the painting on top of the original. As a result, two Templar-like figures appeared at both ends of the table, and another person became visible to the left of Jesus - perhaps a woman with a baby in her arms.

The Italian musician Giovanni Maria Pala pointed out that the positions of the hands and bread can be interpreted as notes in a piece of music, and if read from right to left, as was typical of Leonardo's writing style, they form a musical composition.

Vatican researcher Sabrina Sforza Galizia claimed to have deciphered the "mathematical and astrological" puzzle contained in The Last Supper. According to her, the artist predicted a global flood and then the end of the world, which will begin on March 21, 4006 and end on November 1 of the same year - she believes that this will be the beginning of a new era for mankind.

3. "Creation of Adam": the divine origin of the mind

Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam has stood the test of time not only as the Sistine Chapel's most famous fresco, but also as one of the most iconic images in human history.

Michelangelo is recognized as one of the greatest painters and sculptors of the Italian Renaissance, but it is not widely known that he carefully studied anatomy and, at the age of 17, dismembered corpses dug up in a church cemetery.

American neuroanatomy experts believe that Michelangelo did use some anatomical knowledge when working on the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel.

Although some may consider this a coincidence, experts suggest that Michelangelo could hardly have written something like this in a painting by chance: even the outlines of such complex parts of the brain as the cerebellum, optic nerve and pituitary gland can be seen on the fresco. And in the very figure of Adam, stretching out his hand to God, you can see the outlines of the pons and spine.

4. Frescoes in the Sistine Chapel: some of them show parts of the human brain

As in the case of the "Creation of Adam", among the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel there is another painting with the figure of God, containing a secret message.

Experts noticed that the chest and neck of God have anatomical disorders that no other human figure on the murals has. In addition, while most of the figures are illuminated diagonally from the lower left edge, the sun's rays fall on God's neck at a right angle - the researchers concluded that the genius made such an inaccuracy intentionally.

If we superimpose the image of the strange neck of God on the photograph of the human brain, it becomes noticeable that the contours of both images almost completely coincide, and the strange rectangle of fabric extending to the center of God's garment can symbolize the spinal cord.

Michelangelo also depicted other anatomical features in some places on the ceiling, in particular the kidney, which was of particular interest to Michelangelo since the artist suffered from kidney stones.

5. "Madonna with Saint Giovannino": traces of UFO

The “Madonna with Saint Giovannino” by Domenico Ghirlandaio has an interesting detail: a strangely shaped drop hovers in the sky above Mary’s left shoulder.

In this place of the picture, a board-like object, possibly shiny, is clearly visible - the artist depicted this object to the smallest detail, trying to place it in his work so that it catches the eye. In addition, on the right side of the picture we see a person who raised his right hand to his eyes, showing how bright this object is, and in the upper left corner we see an object that looks like the sun.

The Madonna with Saint Giovannino is just one of many medieval paintings depicting strange, disturbing unidentified flying objects hovering in the skies.

6. "Prophet Zechariah": the power of religion

Tensions between Pope Julius II and Michelangelo are described in historical documents. Historians note that Michelangelo depicted the pope in one of his paintings as the prophet Zechariah, and one of the angels behind him makes an extremely obscene gesture.

The figure in which the fingers of an adorable little child are folded is called "fig", but its meaning is not at all as sweet as the name: holding the thumb between the index and middle fingers, he shows an old world gesture that has retained its meaning to this day. In the West, the gesture is not so common, but in Russia its meaning is well known.

7. "David and Goliath": mystical signs of Kabbalah

Analyzing the arrangement of figures on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, whose area is 1300 km², scientists have found shapes similar to Hebrew letters: for example, the figures of David and Goliath form the letter "gimel", symbolizing "strength" in the mystical tradition of Kabbalah.

Researchers believe that Michelangelo was introduced to Judaism during his stay at the court of Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence, and the entire Sistine Chapel, possibly built in the same proportions as the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, is a "lost mystical message of universal love", intended for decryption.

Source 8Flemish proverbs: 112 Dutch idioms in the picture

Flemish Proverbs is an oil painting on oak panel by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, filled with symbols referring to Dutch proverbs of the time.

In total, 112 idioms were found and deciphered in the picture: some of them are still used, for example, “swim against the current”, “big fish eat small fish”, “knock your head against the wall” and “arm yourself to the teeth”.

Other proverbs point to human stupidity. Some symbols seem to represent the meaning of more than one figure of speech, for example, the sheep shearer, left of center at the bottom of the picture, sits next to the pig shearer, and this scene symbolizes the expression "Someone shearers sheep, and someone - pigs", which means that one person has an advantage over others. Also, the scene can also mean “Shear, but do not take off the skins,” that is, it warns not to go too far when using your abilities.

9. Supper at Emmaus: Christian Vow of Silence

Supper at Emmaus is a painting by Caravaggio, an Italian Baroque painter. The painting depicts the moment when the resurrected Jesus incognito stays in the city of Emmaus, but meets two of his disciples there and breaks bread with them, after which they recognize him.

The picture is already unusual in that the figures of people are depicted on a dark empty background in full size, and on the very edge of the table there is a basket of food, which seems to be about to fall. There is also a strange shadow that looks like a silhouette of a fish, which may indicate a vow of silence as a requirement for Christians.

10. "Portrait of young Mozart": signs of Freemasons

Of course, the works of art have not bypassed the theme of Freemasonry: portraits of people hiding their hands can indicate dedication or a level of hierarchy. An example is the portrait of Mozart painted by Antonio Lorenzoni.