UFOs in Historical Works of Art

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

This is partly in answer to the thread Do ETs Exist? There are for one thing examples of UFOs and other mysterious aerial phenomena appearing in historical pieces of artwork to take into strong consideration. We mustn't forget the numerous cave drawings either, but seeing as these are in many respects primitive renditions, the context not always being completely clear, we should probably concentrate on plainer, more recognisable examples. Namely, established and well-known paintings, which in many cases have been around for centuries.

Here are some of the best examples (some elements I've enhanced and blown up) [warning: image heavy]

What warrants particular study is the religious works from the age of enlightenment, the Renaissance, which appear to illustrate classical UFOs. This is long before the age of science-fiction, long before even flying machines. What are they showing us, and what are they trying to tell us, in these extraordinary images - in scenes of the crucifixion, the Virgin Mary, and the Virgin Birth? In the presented artworks below, the artists seem to be hinting at a quite fantastic notion, far beyond their time. That something beyond (or different to) the Divine is taking place, which is non-human and other-worldly in nature.

In my opinion, the artists and intellectuals had knowledge and insight that the rest of the world (at the time) lacked. This was secret and arcane knowledge considered heretical by the then Powers That Be (which were largely ecclesial in nature). This was possibly the function, and perhaps origin, of the first Secret Societies. Possibly the only safe way to communicate their knowledge and ideas was in art – paintings, sculpture, and architecture, which only the informed and the perceptive could understand. So one has to wonder, did this secret knowledge include non-human agencies from beyond the Earth being involved in human affairs?

"The Baptism of Christ"

This can be found in the Fitzwilliam Museum, in Cambridge England. It was painted by Aert De Gelder in 1710. What we see in the sky is a classic flying saucer, shooting what appears to be rays of light down onto the scene – which is the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist.





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"La Crucifixion"

This is one of several examples of religious imagery depicted in European frescoes. This one can be found in the Monastery of Visoki Decani, in Kosovo. On either side of the cross, in the sky, are two aerial objects apparently moving from left to right. They don't however appear to be natural celestial objects either – two figures, 'pilots' perhaps, seem to be actually flying these objects.





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"The Madonna with Saint Giovannino"

This is a 15th century work by the painter Domenico Ghirlandaio. To the right of Mary’s head, in the sky, is a curious object, at first glance a mere blot on the canvas. Look a little closer, and you will see it is something quite different.







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"The Annunciation with Saint Emidius"

This remarkable scene, painted by Carlo Crivelli (1486) is pretty amazing (if you understand the context). A disc-shaped object in the sky is actually firing a beam of energy down through a window and onto Mary’s head (into maybe her third eye).






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"The Miracle of the Snow"

An armada of UFOs invades a religious scene. This one is by Masolino Da Panicale, and dates to the mid 15th century.

In my opinion, I suspect these 'anomalies' are probably just clouds.

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

Part 2 [continued]

"The Sighisoara wall painting"

This is a fresco from a church in Romania, dating to the 14th century. It looks very much like a disc-shape craft descending on the head of a plume of smoke.



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"Le Livre Des Bonnes Moeurs"

This image can be found in the French book "Le Livre Des Bonnes Moeurs" (The Book of Good Manners), and can be traced back to 1338. Hot air Balloons were as yet several centuries away, so one can only guess what this object actually represents - other than something anomalous that was seen in the sky.





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"Summer's Triumph"

Summer's Triumph is a tapestry from Bruges, Belgium, and dates to 1538. In the top left of the picture you can clearly make out what appears to be several unusual objects hanging in the sky.



Another 15th century tapestry, 'The Magnificat', shows almost exactly the same type of hat-shaped object in the sky (an alternative explanation is 'it's a cloud').



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Other examples:

This depiction by an unknown artist, possibly dating to the crusades, shows something different, perhaps, to a natural astronomical event like a comet or a shooting star. The objects even appear to have portholes.



This 15th century illustration of an unknown origin portrays what looks like a nuts-and-bolts cigar-shaped aerial object.



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"Shields"

These coins, called 'Jetons', date to the 1600s, and portray decorative 'shields' in the sky. One theory is that these are meant to be Ezekiel's Wheel, or alternatively commemorate Jupiter's Shield falling to earth. Another theory is they are merely symbols of military power, and represent the strength of King Louis.



The phenomenon of sky-shields appear elsewhere, as seen in this rendering of a scene in Germany.



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And finally, staying with Germany, this famous woodcut by Hans Glaser of Nuremberg.



Some have called it 'The Battle of Nuremberg'. On the morning of April 14th 1561 a "frightening spectacle" was seen in the sky over the town. "The sky appeared to fill with cylindrical objects from which red, black, orange and blue white disks and globes emerged. Crosses and tubes resembling cannon barrels also appeared whereupon the objects promptly began to fight one another."

One can only speculate what these objects were, and what the people, many hundreds, actually saw. But if we are to take the witness testimonies seriously (and I see no reason why we shouldn't), and their descriptions literally, than something unearthly was definitely happening over Nuremberg that spring morning.

Conclusions:
Forgetting 20th and 21st century sightings and case histories, those of the past are equally, if not more, important. Sceptics and debunkers can put these paintings and renderings down to mere curiosities - natural celestial events, religious fervour, or lenticular clouds. I would urge these doubters to look again, and look closely. In my opinion, the artists of these pieces knew something, and some cases actually bore witness to something out of this (and their) world.

In my opinion UFOs - as vehicles, crafts, created and operated by something other than the human race, have been on Earth since long before Humans ever walked upright. Sceptics can dismiss photographic evidence all they like (and there are many hoaxes), but when one looks at evidence like the above, dating to long before even the Industrial Revolution, it should give the sceptics pause.

[Althena]

I've always thought that the beam going into Mary's head was the way they used to impregnate her with the ET known as Jesus. I know, pretty far-fetched.

[6pounder]

I'll be honest here, that issue with this art was greatly debunked... I'll try to find the video that doing so and explains exactly what is the interpretation of these paintings is.

[Atlas]

This image depicts Mary at the tomb of Jesus. Notice the dome shaped object above the tomb.



It is one of a series of images from the "Relinquary Box" which contains stones from holy sites of Palestine.
Dated 6th-7th C. Located at Biblioteca, Vatican.


http://www.myuforesearch.it/the-words-of-jesus.html

[Wind]

How much more proof do people actually need? These pieces of art, especially the first one have always been clear depictions of UFO visitations to me.

[Foxie Loxie]

These pictures should definitely should be put in our "Library". It was amazing to see them all in one place! It is too arrogant of us to think that we are the only intelligent beings in this vast Omniverse. Thanks to Gerald Clark, it was interesting to find out exactly who the "god" of Abram is.

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

Posted by Atlas (here)
This image depicts Mary at the tomb of Jesus. Notice the dome shaped object above the tomb.



It is one of a series of images from the "Relinquary Box" which contains stones from holy sites of Palestine.
Dated 6th-7th C. Located at Biblioteca, Vatican.

Thanks, fascinating image. It looks from first glance like two angels opening the doors of a tabernacle, above which is a dome-shaped object - which could be just that, a dome, but curiously it seems to be hovering .

Very cool.

[Iloveyou]

What an interesting topic. I've looked for the debunkers at mainstream art history and found this, for example:

http://sprezzatura.it/Arte/Arte_UFO_eng.htm

Their argumentation does not convince me, not at all. On the contrary: it shows how desperately the 'debunkers' try to rationalize, what an open, candid mind can see at first glance (well, I'm not unbiased, either). The depictions are explained with symbolism in medieval art, they call it anthropomorphic representations of sun and moon, which could (could!) eventually hold water for an image like this


(crucifixion in Byzantine style)

but not for that kind of specific and detailed picture


(Monastery of Visoki Decani, Kosovo)


Art historian (and 'debunker') Dr. Diego Cuoghi says: "Many experts on anomalous phenomena mistakenly assume that artists can embed in your pictures all they want, for example, show a UFO over the shoulder of Madonna. It is not. Medieval master was connected strict contract with the customer that must be shown in the picture. All subjects were canonical. And for every strange thing you can lose the order, reputation, and sometimes life. "

I suppose that's correct and it leads to the thought that the (always rich and powerful) medieval customer, the arts patron must have ordered, or at least have approved the depictions.

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Not medieval, but interesting: "Golden orb" phenomenon seen at Spoletium (Umbria, Italy) in 91 BC
(from Jaques Vallee, Chris Aubeck: Wonders in the Sky.)

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At sunrise on 7 August 1566, in Basel, Switzerland, numerous black spheres were seen flying at high speed towards the sun, then turned around, hitting one another as if they were fighting. Many of them ‘became red and fiery, and later consumed themselves and were extinguished’. (similar to the Nuremberg, Germany - picture above).

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And lots of "lenticular clouds" in a fresco in the San Francesco Church Arezzo, Italy
(Piero della Francesca)

[Atlas]

Posted by Iloveyou (here)
Not medieval, but interesting: "Golden orb" phenomenon seen at Spoletium (Umbria, Italy) in 91 BC
(from Jaques Vallee, Chris Aubeck: Wonders in the Sky.)

"In the land of the Romans in the year 73 B.C., a golden ball was seen in the sky, which then came down to the earth and rolled about and flew back up into the air again, in the direction of the rising sun, so that its great size covered up the sun completely. This was followed by the great Roman war."

https://www.pinterest.com/annebhd/wu...e-book-of-mir/

[Mike Gorman]

A lot of the claims for UFO craft being depicted in classic art works is incorrect and wishful thinking. The religious ones in particular are actually representations of 'The Holy Spirit'-the panels from Bayoux Tapestry is 'Haley's Comet'. The holy Spirit (or ghost) was often depicted as being a strange looking device, and if you think about it why would the artist be rendering UFO's?
I am not saying there are not some intriguing episodes in human history, like that one in the German town with strange shaped craft in the sky, I don;t pretend to have all the answers, but the paintings are usually displaying the conventions of their day for 'holiness', 'divine presence' e.t.c

[lunaflare]

I've always thought that the beam going into Mary's head was the way they used to impregnate her with the ET known as Jesus. I know, pretty far-fetched.



Nay, nay tis not far-fetched...countless tales of folks, here on earth, being "beamed-up" and impregnated (or having eggs extracted) by off-world entities

It is interesting to note that the depictions of people are mostly fair of skin, eyes and hair.

Also the dome (ufo) is very similar to the design of St Peter's Basilica (Rome) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome

[Craig]

The crucifixion example would be to me an example of the possibilities of time travel, if you could go anywhere in the past surely this would be in the top 5 destinations. Though you would assume that a degree of cloaking should be shown too?

[ZenBaller]

I would love to know more about the creators of these paintings like quotes, bio information, historical data etc.. If they were open enough to create something like this in such difficult times, they must have been really special. I'm wondering if it's something they did consciously or those UFOs popped out of their subconscious and found their way through artistic expression.

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

Part 3 [continued]


"Glorification of the Eucharist"

The painting "Glorification of the Eucharist" by Bonaventura Salimbeni seems to show God and Jesus fiddling with what looks like a Sputnik satellite. According to "experts" the ball represents the "Celestial Sphere", or the universe, and the wands are meant to depict God's control over it. You decide!





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"The Basel Broadsheet"

Residents of Basel, Switzerland, experienced an unusual 'celestial phenomenon' appearing in the sky on the morning of August 7, 1566. The image below is a representation of that phenomenon (this case also noted by Iloveyou in an earlier post).



Description from the Basel Gazette:
"At the time when the sun rose, one saw many large black balls which moved at high speed in the air towards the sun, then made half-turns, banging one against the others as if they were fighting a battle, a great number of them became red and igneous, thereafter they were consumed and died out."

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"Battle of Nuremberg" previously mentioned in Post#2.



Described in the Nuremberg Broadsheet, 1561:

"In the morning of April 14, 1561, at daybreak, between 4 and 5 a.m., a dreadful apparition occurred on the sun, and then this was seen in Nuremberg in the city, before the gates and in the country – by many men and women. At first there appeared in the middle of the sun two blood-red semi-circular arcs, just like the moon in its last quarter. And in the sun, above and below and on both sides, the color was blood, there stood a round ball of partly dull, partly black ferrous color. Likewise there stood on both sides and as a torus about the sun such blood-red ones and other balls in large number, about three in a line and four in a square, also some alone. In between these globes there were visible a few blood-red crosses, between which there were blood-red strips, becoming thicker to the rear and in the front malleable like the rods of reed-grass, which were intermingled, among them two big rods, one on the right, the other to the left, and within the small and big rods there were three, also four and more globes.

These all started to fight among themselves, so that the globes, which were first in the sun, flew out to the ones standing on both sides, thereafter, the globes standing outside the sun, in the small and large rods, flew into the sun. Besides the globes flew back and forth among themselves and fought vehemently with each other for over an hour. And when the conflict in and again out of the sun was most intense, they became fatigued to such an extent that they all, as said above, fell from the sun down upon the earth "as if they all burned" and they then wasted away on the earth with immense smoke. After all this there was something like a black spear, very long and thick, sighted; the shaft pointed to the east, the point pointed west. Whatever such signs mean, God alone knows."

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"The Svetitskhoveli Crucifixion"

Hovering around Christ's armpits in this Russian fresco, two strange objects can be seen. The two objects are either projecting lance-like beams towards the Christ figure, or are departing as Jesus dies.



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"The Book With the Flying Saucer"

Little is known of this strange booklet, called "Funccii liber de coloribus coeli" by Johann Caspar Funcke. It was discovered by an antiquarian book dealer in 2016, and submitted to the Black Vault. Published in 1716, the book seems to clearly depict a flying saucer in its cover art, and allegedly, within the text, details of a UFO sighting are described. As far as I know, the entire text is yet to be translated.



Another book by the same author, dating to 1740, also depicts a "flying shield", or what we would today classify as a flying saucer.



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"The Jotuo Relief"

This image is an artistic reproduction of a relief found during an expedition on the island Jotuo at Toengt'ing lake in 1957. Expedition leader, Tsj'i Pen-Laiin, found various reliefs showing "humans" in strange clothes which looked like astronaut suits (they had "hose-like" objects attached to the clothes). They also found a painting which apparently resembled the solar system. The third and fourth circle (planet) were connected with a line. Also, there were ten planets (excluding the sun as planet).



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"Utsurobune" - The UFO legend of Japan

In 1803, a strange round object drifted ashore on the Hitachi coast (Ibaragi Prefecture), Japan. The object, or vessel, was described by witnesses as looking like an upturned cauldron made of iron and 'lacquered glass'. The surface was marked with mysterious writing that none of the locals could read. From this vessel emerged a beautiful woman, wearing strange clothing and carrying a box. She spoke an unintelligible language, and communication unfortunately proved impossible.

Tanaka Kazuo, professor emeritus at Gifu University, studied this topic for many years. Initially sceptical, he discovered 11 documents relating to the Hitachi utsurobune legend, of which the most interesting are thought to date from 1803, the same year that the craft was said to have come to shore.



Image above from "Hyōryūki-shū" (Records of Castaways) by an unknown author. The text describes the woman as being around 18 to 20 years of age, well-dressed, and beautiful. "Her face is pale, and her eyebrows and hair are red. It is impossible to communicate with her, so it is unclear where she is from. She holds a plain wooden box as though it is very important to her and keeps her distance. There is mysterious script written on the boat."

Other Depictions

"Ume No Chiri"
The same event, as illustrated in "Ume No Chiri (Dust of Apricot)" published in 1803. Notice the object's similarity.



"A foreign ship and crew witnessed at Haratonohama (Haratono Seashore) in Hitachi no Kuni (Ibaragi Prefecture), Japan."


Ink drawing of the Utsuro-bune by Nagahashi Matajirou (1844).


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