Secrets Hidden in Famous Works of Art
Some of the most famous artists in the world intentionally put secret messages in their paintings to reveal something about themselves.
In Leonardo Da Vinci's famous painting The Lady with an Ermine, Cecilia Gallerani, the mistress of Ludovico, Duke of Milan, was just 15. The daughter of an impoverished courtier, her beauty threatened to cause political upheaval. Ludovico, Duke of Milan, had long been betrothed to the daughter of the Duke of Ferrara, a marriage that would unite two of the most important families in Renaissance Italy. Ludovico described Cecilia as being as 'beautiful as a flower' while Ferarra's daughter was merely 'a pleasing little thing'. Cecilia holds a tame ermine to her breast which appeared in art as an emblem for pregnancy and childbirth, leading historians to suggest that Leonardo painted Cecilia's portrait in 1489 when she was carrying Ludovico's child.
Dominico Ghirlandaio's Madonna with Saint Giovannino is a 15th-century painting at the centre of a debate that has been going on for decades. Theorists believe there is clearly a UFO in the background sky. Other historical paintings also depict strange objects in the sky, and this, according to theorists, supports the argument that aliens have been coming to our planet and interacting with humans for millennia.
This painting, executed by Artemisia Gentileschi, is one of the bloodiest and most vivid depictions of the scene with its immediacy and shocking realism. Judith Beheading Holofernes, also known as Judith Slaying Holofernes, is based on the Old Testament story, which details the assassination of the Assyrian general Holofernes by the Israeli Judith. In the story, Holofernes is about to destroy Judith's home city of Bethulia, but she uses her beauty to gain access to the general's tent and decapitates him after getting him helplessly drunk. The painting depicts the moment that Holofernes wakes from his stupor, just as Judith, aided by Abra her maidservant, is trying to behead him. It was a popular story often used by Baroque artists to show women triumphing over tyrannical men. Gentileschi used herself as the model for Judith, and Tassi as the model for Holofernes.
References:
https://www.historicmysteries.com/madonna-with-saint-giovannino/