From hidden people you might not have noticed, to hidden meanings that have been lost to
time, join us as we explore 9 secrets hidden inside of paintings.
9.
The "Wrong Ear" If you know the history of art, then the name
Vincent Van Gogh will no doubt be one that you remember.
While he was mocked in his own time for his unique art style, it was his work that helped
shape much of what we know as art right now (ignore that whole banana and duct tape thing,
that was just weird).
And yet, when you think about one of his most famous portraits, one that has Vincent Van
Gogh drawing himself in three quarters style with his ear cut off...you notice something
rather odd.
Mainly, in the picture as it is displayed all over the world, the picture shows that
it is his right ear that's cut off.
Which may seem fine...except that Van Gogh cut off his left ear.
That's kind of an odd thing to get wrong, right?
Well we do have an answer for those who are curious about the discrepancy.
The answer lies not in the painting, but the perspective of Van Gosh himself.
No, this is not a mind-bending thing.
Rather, it's that when he was painting this portrait of himself...he was looking at a
mirror.
So everything was flipped, including which ear was the one that was missing.
Now if you're thinking, "Why don't people just flip it back around?
They have technology to do that, right?"
Well that would ruin the purpose of the painting, and who would want to do that to Van Gogh?
That's what I thought.
8.
God and the Brain On the top of the Sistine Chapel is a very
beautiful portrait of God giving the "spark of life and knowledge" to Adam, the first
human every made.
This portrait by the esteemed Michelangelo is revered as one of the most important paintings
in this history.
And is of course one of the key art pieces in all of the Sistine Chapel.
But here's the catch, if you look REALLY closely at the portrait, you're going to see something
that you can't really explain at first.
Look closely at God and the angels behind him in the painting.
Do you notice the red cloak that God has there?
Do you notice that it has an odd shape?
It's easy to dismiss it as something as simple as that's just how Michelangelo painted it,
but when scientists looked at it up close, they realize that the cloak is in the perfect
shape...of the human brain.
Now yeah, this may seem like a "looking at clouds to see what it is" kind of situation,
but scientists not only perfectly mapped it out to prove it was the brain, but you can
actually see specific parts of the brain in conjunction with the angels.
But why is it there?
Why is there a brain shape in the portrait of God and Adam?
There are two theories.
The first ties into the nature of the painting itself.
The brain is where our intelligence lies, and thus, the shape infers once again that
God gave intelligence to Adam.
However, historians offer a slightly different take on that.
Mainly in that Michelangelo hated that the Catholic Church disregarded science as a real
thing.
So having the brain (which is very much a symbol in science) was his act of defiance
against him.
And that wasn't the only time he did something like that against the Catholic Church too,
so that would track.
7.
The Woman Behind The Man The Old Guitarist by Pablo Picasso is one
of his very classic paintings, and is a part of his 'blue period' that further helped his
career.
However, if you look really closely at the background to the portrait, you're going to
swear that there is something there, something that honestly shouldn't be there in the context
of this painting.
Mainly, it looks as if there is a woman behind the man in the painting.
What is going on here?
A good question, but the mystery gets deeper and more fun.
Because the Art Institute of Chicago decided to do an X-Ray of the original portrait (without
damaging it just to be clear), and when they did, they found many more images were lying
under "The Old Guitarist", so much so that it seemed like there was an entirely different
painting below the one that was shown to the world.
So what does it all mean?
Why did Pablo Picasso have the urge to do one painting, and then draw another?
Did he just not like what he drew on the first one?
Was he trying to hide something?
Well, the answer is a bit more sad than that.
Much like many painters of that time period, the art wasn't paying the bills.
And so, they needed to do what they could in order to keep making things work, and to
do that, that meant they occasionally had to paint over portraits that they had already
drawn on.
So at one point, Picasso did want to make that picture with a woman as the focus, but
he decided to draw over it to make The Old Guitarist.
Picasso was not the only artist to do this to be clear, he's just one that had it done
in a way that it got noticed.
6.
Down With The Pope Remember Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel?
Well, like we noted, he had a very tenuous relationship with the Catholic Church, and
especially those that ran it.
True, he did work for them, and even did the Sistine Chapel for them (which showed a lot
of restraint and the desire to make art above all else), but it also gave him a chance to
get back at those he felt was making the world a worse place.
Which ironically included the Pope.
Pope Julius II was the man who commissioned who commissioned the Sistine Chapel, which
you would think would make him popular amongst the people and such, and while that may have
been true by the end...it wasn't the case at the beginning.
He was very much a pope that nobody liked.
And that included Michelangelo.
So what did he do to get back at the Pope?
Simple, he drew him on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
It's subtle, but if you look at the angel known as Zechariah, you'll notice that it
looks like Julius the II.
And if you look even closer, you'll see he's doing something with his hand.
that is a snarky gesture from that time period known as "The Fig", and for a person looking
like the Pope to do that is indeed a big insult.
5.
From Night To Day If you look at The Shooting Company of Frans
Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch by Rembrandt, which is known to many as the "Night
Watch", you can see that one of the big reasons for its naming is that it's very dark.
It looks like this militia group is going out in the dark to get a job done, and that's
why the "Night Watch" moniker has stuck for all of these years.
But there's a fundamental problem with that moniker, and it's one that was hidden right
in front of everyone's eyes...until it got wiped off.
Confused?
I'll explain, in 1947, the original painting was taken to be cleaned, and what they realized
was that the top layer of the painting had a VERY thick layer of soot on it.
And so when they cleaned it up, they found out that the soot made the painting much darker
than it had actually been drawn.
Rembrandt didn't make a portrait of these men at nighttime, it was actually painted
to look like they were in daytime!
So it's more like "The Day Watch" than the "Night Watch."
You might think, "How could they have missed something like this?
But remember, these portraits, especially ones from guys like Rembrandt, were so revered
that the thought of touching them with any kind of tools was quickly shot down.
Only once true restoration tools were brought forth was this allowed to happen.
4.
Man In the Mirror Jan van Eyck was an artist from the 15th century,
and he was very much a guy who liked to put in intentional secret messages into his paintings.
For proof of this, you need to look no further than his very famous portrait known as the
Arnolfini Portrait.
Most people know that in this portrait there is a message that states "Jan van Eyck was
here 1434".
You can find it behind the two people in the portrait.
However, if you look even closer in the portrait, you're going to notice that there is a mirror,
and within that mirror is another "view" of the scene at hand.
within that scene is actually two other people.
One of which is believed to be Jan Van Eyck.
Specifically, there is a person who is believed to be "raising their hand" in the picture,
and that's supposed to be them.
I'm sure some of you will find this funny that the artist themselves is making a "cameo"
appearance in their own art piece, but if you have the ability to do it...why not do
it?
Why not have some fun with the art piece you're clearly putting a lot of fun and effort into?
3.
The "Strength" Of David Thought we were done with the Sistine Chapel?
Oh no, we still got a lot of secret messages in there.
Which makes me wonder what to think of Michelangelo if he was willing to do all of that...whatever!
Anyway, this time, the message is a little more subtle, and honestly not means spirited.
Part of the series of images in the Sistine Chapel include a picture of the legendary
battle between David and Goliath, a tale told in the Bible.
But if you look at the positions of both David and Goliath, you'll notice that the poses
make the Hebrew letter known as gimel.
What does that mean?
It's the symbol of strength.
This hidden message can truly be interpreted a series of different ways.
For example, the reason Goliath was so feared was that he was a giant amongst men, and had
the strength to match.
His strength put fear into the hearts of the Israelites.
But in contrast, you could also argue that the symbol of strength was meant for David.
Because it was not the strength of his body that led him to victory against Goliath, but
rather, the inner strength, and the strength of faith in regards to God that propelled
him to victory.
Either way, it's a nice visual, and a nice message about what strength really means,
and what it can mean to others.
Seriously though, what's with Michelangelo and these secret messages?
I'm just saying.
2.
The Musical Last Supper We're going to end this list with two entries
featuring works from Leonardo Da Vinci, and the first of them comes from his piece known
as The Last Supper.
This is a reference to the Biblical tale of Jesus Christ having a meal with his followers
one last time before his arrest and death.
Many people have claimed to have "found secrets" hidden with the painting that gives clues
to all sorts of things.
But they've all been debunked.
That is, until Italian musician Giovanni Maria Pala came forward and noted something rather
odd in regards to the piece.
Mainly, if you were to put the 5 bars of a musical scale on the piece, and then look
at the hand positions of the disciples and the pieces of bread, they seem to create a
melody that can be played.
Coincidence?
Possibly, but here's the rub, when you actually play the melody as it is "intended" in the
piece, you get a 40-second melody that very much sounds like a religious hymn.
Was Da Vinci trying to make something musical alongside his artistical masterpiece?
Does this song actually have another hidden meaning than sounding like a church song?
Why would he have put the song in there if so?
And if it is a coincidence, how did it work out so perfectly as to create a song?
We'll likely never get the answers to these questions.
1.
The Mona Lisa Before you say anything, NO, we are NOT talking
about The Da Vinci Code.
That book is fictional, and does not have a bearing on things here.
HOWEVER, that doesn't mean that the Mona Lisa doesn't have a few secrets left to hold.
After all, many people still wonder who the Mona Lisa is painted of.
Including some wild theories that Da Vinci painted a female version of himself.
Which would be both hilarious and creepy.
Anyway, onto the secrets.
There are two hidden in the Mona Lisa's portrait (which is much smaller than you might think).
The first is on the left eye of Mona Lisa (her actual left eye), you'll see "LV" inscribed
into it in rather microscopic fashion.
Which shows the impressive skills of Da Vinci (which weren't really in question to be honest).
But in 2015, a shock was delivered to the world of art, as there was ANOTHER secret
of the portrait!
Mainly, there was another painting hidden under the Mona Lisa.
One that had a very different woman in a very different position from the Mona Lisa we have
now.
After observing it, artists agreed that this was likely a "first draft" of the painting,
and not unlike Picasso, just painted over the canvas to save time and money and just
get to the painting at hand.
The results speak for themselves.
Thanks for watching everyone!
What did you think of these secrets that lied hidden within these famous paintings and works?
Can you believe some of the hidden secrets and messages that were within them?
Which artist do you credit the most with keeping their secret so well kept?
Let me know in the comments below, be sure to subscribe, and I'll see you next time on
the channel!