Alright, so this whole "UFOs in paintings" thing. I never really set out to become an expert or anything, definitely not. It kinda just… happened. You know how some weekends you have big plans, and other weekends you end up falling down an internet rabbit hole? This was one of those.
How It All Started
It wasn't even my idea, to be honest. My kid, young Sam, came home from school with this project. "Mysteries of the Past," the teacher called it. And somehow, Sam had stumbled onto all these websites and videos claiming there were spaceships and aliens hidden in famous old paintings. Seriously. So, suddenly I'm getting grilled at dinner: "Dad, did Renaissance painters see UFOs? Is that a spaceman in that old painting?" I mean, what do you even say to that?
So, there I was. I figured I had to look into it myself, mostly to help Sam sort out the wild stuff from anything, well, remotely plausible. Didn't want the kid presenting a bunch of nonsense, you know? That was my main motivation, really. My "practice" here was basically me trying to be a good parent and fact-checker on the fly.
The Actual Digging In
So, I fired up the old laptop and started searching. Typed in "UFOs in historical art," "aliens in old paintings," that sort of thing. And boy, there's a lot out there. I spent a good few hours just clicking through images and reading theories. Some of the usual suspects popped up right away:
- That 'Madonna with Saint Giovannino' painting, with the little blob in the sky and a guy looking up at it.
- Crivelli's 'The Annunciation with Saint Emidius,' with that beam of light.
- 'The Baptism of Christ' by Aert De Gelder, with the disc-like object shining down.
- A bunch of cave paintings and medieval tapestries too.
My process was pretty straightforward. I’d look at the image, read the UFO theory, and then try to find what art historians or skeptics had to say. It was a lot of squinting at my screen, I tell you. Zooming in on blurry JPEGs. My eyes were killing me by the end of the first day.
Some of the claims were just… out there. Like, a hat was a helmet, a cloud was a mothership. You know, the kind of thing where if you really want to see it, you’ll see it. Pareidolia, right? Like seeing faces in the clouds. A lot of it felt like that. People from way back then drew or painted things they didn't understand – weird weather, comets, meteors, or religious symbols that look strange to us now – and boom, centuries later, it’s an alien spacecraft.
What I Found Out (or Didn't)
For most of the famous examples, there are pretty sensible explanations. That blob in the 'Madonna' painting? Many art folks say it's a symbolic representation of an angel or a divine presence, common in religious art of that time. The guy looking up? He’s a shepherd, and they often look up. Crivelli's "Annunciation" beam? It’s literally depicting the Holy Spirit descending, a very standard religious theme. That round thing in 'The Baptism of Christ'? Again, art historians mostly agree it’s a stylized representation of heaven opening up with God and the Holy Spirit, typical for that subject.
Honestly, it was a bit of a letdown if you're looking for smoking-gun evidence of ancient aliens. Most of it is just misinterpreting symbols, or not understanding the artistic conventions of the time. Or sometimes, it's stuff added later, or even modern fakes, though I didn't dig too deep into those.
But here’s the funny thing. While I was busy trying to debunk UFOs for Sam’s project, I actually started to look at the art itself. I mean, I’m no art expert, never claimed to be. But I started noticing the details, the colors, the stories the painters were trying to tell within their own context. It was kinda fascinating, in a way I didn't expect. I learned a bit about religious iconography, about different art periods. Stuff I’d normally just scroll past.
So, in the end, Sam's project got done. We included some of the "UFO" theories and then the more accepted explanations. Made for a more balanced report, I think. And me? I still don't think there are UFOs in those old paintings. But my little "practice" of investigating them wasn't a total waste of time. I accidentally learned a few things. And it definitely made for some interesting dinner conversations for a while. So, yeah, that was my adventure into the world of UFOs in paintings. Still not a believer, but it was a trip.
