Secrets of old paintings at Tretyakov Gallery. Secrets of old Tretyakov paintings “Night Watch” was during the day

Find out about some famous paintings in which it was possible to see and decipher the “double bottom”.

Most artists put some hidden meaning, secret or riddle into their paintings, which art critics and other specialists try to decipher over time.

1. Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, 1500-1510.

Jeroen van Aken signed his paintings "Hieronymous Bosch". He was a wealthy man and was a member of the Catholic Brotherhood of Our Lady. However, most likely, Jeroen van Aken kept his fingers crossed behind his back, since according to historians, Bosch was a heretic and belonged to the Adamite sect and therefore was an admirer of the Cathar heresy.

In those days, the Catholic Church fought the Cathars everywhere, and the artist had to hide his beliefs. However, according to art critics around the world, in the painting “The Garden of Earthly Delights” his secret belief as a heretic was encrypted, in which he talks about the teachings of the Cathars. But if his contemporaries had guessed about this, then Bosch, without the right to justification, would have been burned at the stake.

2. Tivadar Kostka Chontvari, Old Fisherman, 1902

In order to decipher the intention of this painting, I had to put a mirror in its middle. During the artist’s lifetime, this far from childish riddle could not be solved. But when modern art critics thought of working with a mirror, they were amazed by what they saw, since one picture displayed three faces at once. The first is the real face of the old fisherman, the second and third are his hidden personalities: a demon (left shoulder reflected) and virtue (right shoulder reflected).
Therefore, it is quite logical to assume that the artist put into the picture the idea that every person contains two essences: the one he cultivates will prevail in his soul.

3. Hendrik van Antonissen, View of the seashore of Scheveningen, 1641

When the painting came to the museum as a gift from a clergyman and part-time collector in 1873, in the picture the gathered people in bad weather simply looked into the distance of the sea. This repeatedly piqued the curiosity of specialists, since it was not clear what could attract people to the shore in unfavorable weather.

The secret was revealed later during a careful restoration. When it was illuminated with X-rays, the picture showed the carcass of a whale washed up on this shore. And then it became clear what had attracted the attention of all these people. After the restoration, a whale already appeared in the picture, and this masterpiece became much more interesting, so it was given a more honorable place than before. According to the restorers, the whale could have been erased and sketched by the artist himself, who considered that not everyone would want to see a dead sea animal in the picture.

4. Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, 1495-1498.

When the artist created this masterpiece, he paid most attention to the main figures - Christ and Judas. For a long time he was unable to find suitable models, but one day he met a young singer in a church choir and copied the image of Christ from him. However, he had to look for a person for the image of Judas for another 3 years, until the artist came across a drunkard lying in a gutter.

He was a young man whose appearance was distorted by heavy drinking. And when, after sobering up, da Vinci began to paint the image of Judas from him, the drunkard said that he had already posed for him 3 years ago. It turned out that this fallen man was the young choirboy who posed for the image of Christ.

5. Rembrandt, Night Watch, 1642

The artist’s greatest painting was discovered only in the 19th century, after which it visited the famous halls of the world called “Night Watch”. They gave this name to the painting because it seemed as if the figures were appearing against a dark background, and therefore at night. And only by the middle of the twentieth century did restorers discover that the painting had been covered with a layer of soot from time to time. After clearing the masterpiece, it turned out that the scene was taking place during the day, since the falling shadow from the left hand of Captain Kok indicates that the time of the action is around 14.00.

6. Henri Matisse, The Boat, 1937

In 1967, Henri Matisse's 1937 painting "The Boat" was exhibited at the New York Museum. However, after 47 days, one of the specialists noticed that the painting was most likely hung upside down. Important elements of the picture are 2 sails, one of which is a reflection in the water. So, in the correct version, the large sail should be at the top, and its peak should look towards the upper right corner.

7. Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with a Pipe, 1889

There are already legends about van Gogh's severed ear. Many say that he cut it off himself, but the officially accepted more plausible version is that the artist’s ear was injured in a small fight with another artist, Paul Gauguin. The secret of this painting is that the artist copied his self-portrait from the reflection in the mirror: in the painting his right ear was bandaged, but in reality it was the ear on his left that was damaged.

8. Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930

In American painting, this picture with the gloomy and sad faces of the residents of Iowa is considered the most gloomy and depressing. After the painting was exhibited in Chicago at the Art Institute, the judges did not immediately give it big awards and rated it as a satirical picture. However, the museum curator himself was amazed and believed that the images of rural residents of that time were reflected here. He influenced the outcome of the final assessment, and as a result, Grant Wood received a $300 prize, after which the museum immediately bought the painting. So the picture ended up on the pages of newspapers.

However, this painting did not evoke the same admiration as the museum curator among the residents of Iowa. On the contrary, a sea of criticism fell on this work, and Iowans were deeply offended that the artist depicted them as so gloomy and gloomy. Later, the artist explained that while passing by the state of Iowa, he came across an interesting white house, built in the Carpenter Gothic style, and he decided to create its inhabitants according to his own assumption, and did not want to offend the villagers of this state.

The artist even revealed the names of the sitters from whom he painted the images: a girl in an unfashionable apron was modeled after his sister, and a stern man with a heavy gaze was the artist’s dentist, who in real life does not look so gloomy. However, Wood’s sister was also dissatisfied; she claimed that in the picture she could be mistaken for the wife of a man twice as old. Therefore, only from her words it is believed that the father and daughter are depicted on the canvas, but the artist himself never commented on this.

9. Salvador Dali, Young Virgin Indulging in the Sin of Sodomy Using the Horns of Her Own Chastity, 1954

Before meeting Gala, Salvador Dali’s sister Anna-Maria was his muse and part-time model. And in 1925 the painting “Figure at the Window” was released. But one day the artist dared to leave an offensive inscription on one of his works about their mother: “Sometimes I spit on the portrait of my own mother, and it gives me pleasure.” For this shocking prank, his sister could not forgive him, after which their relationship deteriorated.

And when Anna-Maria published her book in 1949 entitled “Salvador Dali through the eyes of his sister,” it did not describe her admiration for the artist, which made Salvador himself furious. And, according to experts, in 1954, in retaliation against his sister for the book, the offended artist created the painting “A Young Virgin Indulging in the Sin of Sodomy with the Help of the Horns of Her Own Chastity.” In this painting, the landscape outside the window, red curls and an open window are clearly intertwined with the painting “Figure Outside the Window.”

10. Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn, Danae, 1636-1647.

During restoration work in the 60s of the twentieth century, the painting was X-rayed, after which it became known that Danae has 2 faces. Initially, the princess’s face was painted from the image of the artist’s wife Saskia. However, his wife died in 1642, and after her death, Rembrandt began to live with his mistress Gertje Dirks. Therefore, the artist completed the picture from it, and Danae’s face changed, becoming similar to the appearance of Dirks.

11. Leonardo da Vinci, Portrait of Lady Lisa del Giocondo, 1503-1519.

All over the world, Mona Lisa is recognized as perfection, and her smile is tender and mysterious. American art critic and part-time dentist Joseph Borkowski tried to decipher the mystery of this smile. In his expert opinion, a theory has been put forward that the “beautiful Gioconda” smiles so mysteriously for one simple reason - she is missing many teeth. Studying enlarged fragments of her mouth, Joseph even saw the scars around it, so he claims that something happened to the heroine, as a result of which she lost a significant number of teeth. And her smile is typical of a person who has missing front teeth.

12. Ferdinand Victor Eugene Delacroix, Freedom on the Barricades, 1830

Art critic Etienne Julie believes that the image of Liberty was based on the famous revolutionary of that time, Anne-Charlotte, who was a commoner and laundress by profession. This desperate woman went to the barricades and killed 9 royal soldiers. She was prompted to take such a brave step by the death of her brother, who fell at the hands of the guards. And Svoboda’s bare chest in the picture means that democracy and freedom itself are the same as a commoner who does not wear corsets.

13. Kazimir Malevich, Black Suprematist Square, 1915

Some people attribute mystical power to Malevich's Black Square. However, as it turned out, the author did not put anything magical into this picture, and the picture was actually called “The Battle of the Negroes in a Dark Cave.” Such an inscription was discovered by specialists from the Tretyakov Gallery.

The square turned out to be not quite square, since neither side is parallel to the other, but this is not the artist’s negligence, but his desire to create a dynamically mobile form. And black is just the result of mixing colors of different shades. Most likely, Malevich responded in this way to the painting of another artist Alphonse Allais, who depicted a completely black rectangle, calling the work “The Battle of Negroes in a Dark Cave in the Dead of Night.”

14. Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, 1907

Behind the mystery of this portrait lies a love triangle between Mrs. Bloch-Bauer herself, her husband and the artist Klimt. The point is that a whirlwind romance began between the wife of a sugar magnate and a popular artist in those years, and all of Vienna probably knew about it.

When this news reached Adele's husband Ferdinad Bloch-Bauer, he decided to take revenge on the lovers in an unusual way.

Stung by his wife’s betrayal, Mr. Bloch-Bauer turned to her lover Gustav Klimt with an order: to paint a portrait of his wife. The cunning tycoon decided that he would reject his wife’s portraits, and the artist would have to make hundreds of new sketches. And this is necessary so that the artist simply turns away from the model Adele Bloch-Bauer. Then Adele must see how Klimt’s passion for her fades away, and the romance will come to an end.

As a result, Ferdinad’s insidious plan worked exactly as he had planned, and after painting the final picture, the lovers parted forever. However, Adele never found out that her husband was aware of her love affairs with the artist.

15. Paul Gauguin, Where did we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?, 1897-1898.

This painting became a turning point in the artist’s life, or rather, it truly brought him back to life after an unsuccessful suicide. He wrote his work in Tahiti, where he sometimes escaped from civilization. But this time everything did not work out so smoothly: constant poverty brought the suspicious artist to deep depression.

He completed the painting as a kind of testament to humanity, and when the masterpiece was completed, the desperate artist went into the mountains with a box of arsenic to commit suicide. However, he did not calculate the dose and, writhing in pain, returned home and fell asleep. After awakening and realizing his action, the artist regained his former thirst for life, and upon returning home, everything improved for him, a creative upsurge began, and things went uphill.

The secret of this painting is that it must be read from right to left, like the cabalistic texts that the author of the painting was passionate about in those days. The work tells about the spiritual and physical life of a person from birth to death (a baby is drawn in the lower right corner as a symbol of birth, and in the lower left corner there is old age and a bird that caught a lizard, as a symbol of death).

16. Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Dutch Proverbs, 1559

This truly masterpiece painting contains neither more nor less, but about 112 proverbs. Some of them talk about human stupidity. Many are still relevant today: “armed to the teeth”, “swim against the tide”.

17. Paul Gauguin, Breton village under snow, 1894

This picture reflects the depth of a person’s imagination, since art can be looked at in different ways. The painting was first sold after the artist’s death at auction for a measly seven francs under the title “Niagara Falls.” This happened because the auction organizer hung it upside down and saw a waterfall in the picture, and not a village covered in snow.

18. Pablo Picasso, Blue Room, 1901

Art historians were able to solve this picture only in 2008, after it was illuminated with infrared radiation. After which a second painting, or most likely the first, was discovered. Under the main image of a woman in a blue room, the figure of a man dressed in a suit and bow tie, resting his head on his hand, became clearly visible.

According to specialist Patricia Favero, when Picasso had inspiration, he immediately grabbed a brush and began to paint. And perhaps, at the next moment, when the muse visited him, the artist did not have a blank canvas at hand, and he began to paint a new painting on top of another, or Pablo simply did not have the funds for new canvases.

19. Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam, 1511

This picture can be called an anatomy lesson. Thus, according to American experts in neuroanatomy, the painting depicts a huge brain with its complex parts clearly visible, such as the pituitary gland, cerebellum, optic nerves and even the vertebral artery, which is depicted as a bright green ribbon.

20. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, The Lute Player, 1596

This painting was exhibited in the Hermitage for a very long time under the title “The Lute Player”. However, in the first half of the twentieth century, art historians and experts found out that the painting depicts a young man, not a girl. They were prompted to this idea by the notes lying in front of the image of a person. They show the male bass part of Jacob Arkadelt's madrigal “You know that I love you.” Therefore, it is unlikely that a woman would make a similar choice for singing.

In addition, during the artist’s lifetime, both the lute and the violin, which are depicted on the canvas, were considered exclusively male musical instruments. After this conclusion, the painting began to be exhibited under the name “The Lute Player.”

Art is not only a way to express your inspiration, but also a great mystery. Artists often add curious little details to their paintings or leave “messages” that are difficult to notice the first time. We have compiled a list of famous painting masterpieces that hide unexpected secrets.

1. Wrong ear

Vincent van Gogh's self-portrait depicts the artist whose right ear is injured. But he actually cut off his left ear, not his right. This discrepancy is explained by the fact that Van Gogh used a mirror to create his own portrait.

2. The picture under the picture

If you look closely at Pablo Picasso's The Old Guitarist, you can see a faint female silhouette behind the man's head. Researchers at the Art Institute of Chicago took infrared and x-ray images of this famous painting and discovered that several other drawings were hidden underneath it. Most likely, the artist did not have enough money to buy new canvases, and he had to paint on old ones.

3. The Night Watch depicts day, not night.

In 1947, the painting “Performance of a Rifle Company...” (better known as “Night Watch”) by Rembrandt was restored. After the painting was cleared of a thick layer of soot, it became obvious that the scene depicted in it did not take place at night, but in daylight.

4. Sistine Chapel

The image of the human brain is visible not only in Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam, but also in another fresco called The Separation of Light and Darkness, which can be seen in the Sistine Chapel. Look at God's neck: it matches the photograph of a human brain perfectly.

5. Symbol of strength

The figures of David and Goliath in Michelangelo's fresco form the Hebrew letter Gimel, which symbolizes strength in the mystical Kabbalistic tradition.

6. Rembrandt's squint

After studying Rembrandt's self-portraits, some scientists decided that the artist suffered from strabismus. This feature made him perceive the world a little differently: he saw reality in 2D instead of 3D. However, it may have been squint that helped Rembrandt create his immortal masterpieces.

7. Revenge on lovers

Gustav Klimt's most famous painting depicts Adele Bloch-Bauer. This portrait was commissioned by Adele's husband, sugar baron Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer. He learned that Adele and Klimt were lovers, and decided that after hundreds of sketches the artist would hate his model. And the deceived husband turned out to be right. Working together really cooled the feelings between Adele and Gustav.

8. The World in Yellow

Vincent Van Gogh chose yellow for almost all of his paintings. Scientists believe this is a side effect of an epilepsy drug that changes color perception. Perhaps the artist really saw the world as he depicted it on his canvases.

9. Foreseeing the end of the world

Italian researcher Sabrina Sforza Galizia offers a very unusual interpretation of “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci. She says that hidden in this painting is a prophecy of the end of the world, which will occur on March 21, 4006. The researcher made this conclusion by deciphering the mathematical and astrological codes of the picture.

But this is not the only secret of the Last Supper. The hands of Christ and the apostles, together with the bread on the table, form something similar to the designation of notes. It turned out that it really does sound like a melody.

10. Mozart and the Freemasons

There is strong evidence that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a Freemason. Even in the child's portrait painted by Pietro Antonio Lorenzoni, we see a Masonic symbol: a hidden hand indicating a hierarchical rank in a secret society.

11. Toothless Mona Lisa

Dentist and art critic Joseph Borkowski, having studied the painting of Leonardo da Vinci, is confident that he was able to reveal the secret of Gioconda’s smile. He believes that she was missing front teeth, and this is what affected her facial expression.

Millions of people admire the works of famous artists of the past. Their amazing colors, the play of shadow and light, the skill with which the smallest details are so carefully painted. But are we looking at paintings carefully enough? Do we see everything that the artist wanted to show us? At first glance, it only seems that these are just landscapes, portraits, historical and biblical subjects. They may contain the most amazing secrets of history, the secrets of their creators, and under the layer of paint of one painting, a completely different one may be hidden. Only careful study and analysis carried out by experts can lift the veil of these secrets for us, but sometimes even they cannot do this, and the mysteries of famous paintings remain unsolved for future generations.

Even those masterpieces of painting that seem familiar to us and studied almost millimeter by millimeter have their secrets. Almost every significant work of art has a mystery, a “double bottom” or a secret story that you want to uncover. Today we will share a few of them.

Bruegel's proverbs

The painting "Flemish Proverbs" by Pieter Bruegel the Elder can be called one of the largest and most fascinating puzzles. The artist depicted a land literally inhabited by Dutch proverbs!

About 112 idioms are recognized in the picture, some of them are known to you and me. Try searching for: “armed to the teeth,” “swimming against the tide,” or “banging your head against the wall.” Perhaps you can solve the rest? For example, those who talk about human stupidity or, conversely, about foresight?

Music of sin?

Hieronymus Bosch, "The Garden of Earthly Delights", 1500-1510. This painting has caused a lot of controversy since its birth, which continues 500 years later. One of the topics for research was the right side of the triptych, called “Musical Hell,” which depicts the torment of sinners in hell who are tortured using musical instruments. The researchers' attention was drawn to the notes written by the artist on... the buttocks of one of the sinners. The notes were rearranged in a modern way and... a melody from the underworld began to sound, which became a sensation.

And this is what the music sounds like, played according to the notes from the picture:

Two muses of one artist?

One of Rembrandt’s most famous paintings, “Danae,” received the nickname “two-faced.” X-ray photography showed that Danae’s face was painted twice: the first time it was an image similar to Saskia, the painter’s deceased wife, and the second, later one, resembles the face of his other lover, Gertje Dirks, who became the artist’s girlfriend after Saskia’s death.

Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn, "Danae", 1636 - 1647.

Dali's Revenge

The painting “Figure at a Window” was painted in 1925, when Dali was 21 years old. At that time, Gala had not yet entered the artist’s life, and his muse was his sister Anna Maria. The relationship between brother and sister deteriorated when he wrote in one of the paintings “sometimes I spit on the portrait of my own mother, and this gives me pleasure.” Anna Maria could not forgive such shocking behavior.

In her 1949 book, Salvador Dali Through the Eyes of a Sister, she writes about her brother without any praise. The book infuriated Salvador. For another ten years after that, he angrily remembered her at every opportunity. And so, in 1954, the painting “A Young Virgin Indulging in the Sin of Sodomy with the Help of the Horns of Her Own Chastity” appeared. The woman’s pose, her curls, the landscape outside the window and the color scheme of the painting clearly echo “Figure at the Window.” There is a version that Dali took revenge on his sister for her book.

Two sides of every person

Old Fisherman, Tivadar Kostka Chontvari, 1902. An old tired fisherman is a portrait of an ordinary person, like all of us and nothing more. What's the mystery here? No one could understand it during the artist’s lifetime. And its essence is that in each of us there lives an Angel and a Demon, in the soul of each there is God and there is a Devil. Place a mirror in the middle of the picture and you will see that in every person there can be both God and the Devil.

Austrian Mona Lisa

One of Klimt's most significant paintings depicts the wife of the Austrian sugar magnate Ferdinad Bloch-Bauer. All of Vienna was discussing the stormy romance between Adele and the famous artist. The wounded husband wanted to take revenge on his lovers, but chose a very unusual method: he decided to order Klimt a portrait of Adele and force him to make hundreds of sketches until the artist began to vomit from her.

Gustav Klimt, "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer", 1907.

Bloch-Bauer wanted the work to last several years, so that the sitter could see how Klimt's feelings were fading. He made a generous offer to the artist, which he could not refuse, and everything turned out according to the scenario of the deceived husband: the work was completed in 4 years, the lovers had long since cooled off to each other. Adele Bloch-Bauer never knew that her husband was aware of her relationship with Klimt.

Mysteries of the Last Supper

Leonardo da Vinci, "The Last Supper", 1495-1498.

Leonardo da Vinci fresco "The Last Supper" 1495-1498. Over more than 5 centuries of existence, the famous fresco was destroyed and restored more than once (the last restoration lasted 21 years!). Many looked for secrets in it and found them - where did the “extra” hand with a knife come from? From whom did Leonardo paint Jesus and Judas?

Technologist Slavisa Pesci achieved the visual effect by superimposing its own translucent mirror reflection on top of the original, which revealed two additional figures at the edges of the picture and a woman standing to the left of Jesus with a baby.

Musician Giovanni Maria Pala interpreted the bread and hands on the table as a musical notation of a musical composition.

Researcher Sabrina Sforza Galitzia believes she has solved the puzzle contained in The Last Supper, which predicts a global flood that will begin on March 21, 4006 and mark the beginning of a new era for humanity.

Van Gogh's yellow bedroom

Vincent van Gogh, "Bedroom in Arles", 1888 - 1889.

In May 1888, Van Gogh acquired a small studio in Arles, in the south of France, where he fled from Parisian artists and critics who did not understand him. In one of the four rooms, Vincent sets up a bedroom. In October, everything is ready, and he decides to paint “Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles.” For the artist, the color and comfort of the room were very important: everything had to evoke thoughts of relaxation. At the same time, the picture is designed in alarming yellow tones.

Researchers of Van Gogh's work explain this by the fact that the artist took foxglove, a remedy for epilepsy, which causes serious changes in the patient's perception of color: the entire surrounding reality is painted in green and yellow tones.

Deceptions in painting

Sometimes the search for secrets in the paintings of famous artists reveals deception, voluntary or involuntary. This happened with Rembrandt's painting "The Night Watch" (1642). In fact, it was a day watch! It’s just that over the course of a couple of hundred years, during which the painting wandered through different halls until it fell into the hands of art critics, it managed to become covered with a thick layer of soot that darkened the entire background. After thoroughly cleaning the surface, details were discovered that confirmed the “day version” - the shadow from the captain’s hand falls in such a way that it can be assumed that the painting depicts a patrol that took to the city streets no later than 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

Rembrandt, "Night Watch", 1642.

Vincent van Gogh misled everyone with his Self-Portrait with a Pipe, in which he depicted himself with a bandaged ear. The ear was indeed damaged, but not the right one, but the left one. The deception is obvious and, most likely, accidental - he simply painted himself while looking in the mirror.

Vincent van Gogh, "Self-Portrait with a Pipe".

And one more deception that we all know from childhood from candy wrappers. The famous "Morning in the Pine Forest" (1889) by Ivan Shishkin, the greatest master of landscape. The artist, who painted landscapes beautifully, was afraid that his bears would not come out “alive” and truly touching. Therefore, he resorted to the help of another master animal artist, Konstantin Savitsky, who knew how to draw bears like no one else. Initially, the names of both authors were on the canvas, but... Tretyakov ordered the name of the animal painter to be washed off.

Ivan Shishkin, “Morning in the Pine Forest”, 1889.

Secrets of Gioconda

The famous “La Gioconda” exists in two versions: the nude version is called “Monna Vanna”, it was painted by the little-known artist Salai, who was a student and sitter of the great Leonardo da Vinci.

Many art historians are sure that it was he who was the model for Leonardo’s paintings “John the Baptist” and “Bacchus”. There are also versions that Salai, dressed in a woman’s dress, served as the image of the Mona Lisa herself.

The generally accepted opinion is that the Mona Lisa is perfection and her smile is beautiful in its mystery. However, American art critic (and part-time dentist) Joseph Borkowski believes that, judging by her facial expression, the heroine has lost many teeth. While studying enlarged photographs of the masterpiece, Borkowski also discovered scars around her mouth. “She “smiles” like that precisely because of what happened to her,” the expert believes. “Her facial expression is typical of people who have lost their front teeth.”

Overturned boat

The artist painted two sails for a reason; the second sail is a reflection of the first on the surface of the water. In order not to make a mistake in how the picture should hang, you need to pay attention to the details. The larger sail should be the top of the painting, and the peak of the painting's sail should be toward the top right corner.

Henri Matisse, "The Boat", 1937.

Two "Breakfasts on the Grass"

The artists Edouard Manet and Claude Monet are sometimes confused - after all, they were both French, lived at the same time and worked in the style of impressionism. Monet even borrowed the title of one of Manet’s most famous paintings, “Luncheon on the Grass,” and wrote his own “Luncheon on the Grass.”

Edouard Manet, Luncheon on the Grass, 1863.

Claude Monet, Luncheon on the Grass, 1865.

How many more secrets, secret codes and messages, erroneous interpretations and deceptions are hidden in the paintings of great artists? Who knows, maybe they will be revealed literally tomorrow, or maybe only by the next generation of researchers.

An American student deciphered the musical notation depicted on the buttocks of a sinner from a Bosch painting. The resulting tune has become one of the Internet sensations of recent times.

Almost every significant work of art has a mystery, a “double bottom” or a secret story that you want to uncover. Today we will share a few of them.

Music on the buttocks

In 1902, the Hungarian artist Tivadar Kostka Csontvary painted the painting “The Old Fisherman”. It would seem that there is nothing unusual in the picture, but Tivadar put into it a subtext that was never revealed during the artist’s lifetime.

Few people thought of placing a mirror in the middle of the picture. In each person there can be both God (the Old Man's right shoulder is duplicated) and the Devil (the Old Man's left shoulder is duplicated).

Doubles at the Last Supper

Leonardo da Vinci, "The Last Supper", 1495-1498.

When Leonardo da Vinci wrote The Last Supper, he attached particular importance to two figures: Christ and Judas. He spent a very long time looking for models for them. Finally, he managed to find a model for the image of Christ among the young singers. Leonardo was unable to find a model for Judas for three years. But one day he came across a drunkard on the street who was lying in a gutter. He was a young man who had been aged by heavy drinking. Leonardo invited him to a tavern, where he immediately began to paint Judas from him. When the drunkard came to his senses, he told the artist that he had already posed for him once. It was several years ago, when he sang in the church choir, Leonardo painted Christ from him.

The innocent history of "Gothic"

Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930.

Grant Wood's work is considered one of the most strange and depressing in the history of American painting. The picture with the gloomy father and daughter is filled with details that indicate the severity, puritanism and retrograde nature of the people depicted. In fact, the artist did not intend to depict any horrors: during a trip to Iowa, he noticed a small house in the Gothic style and decided to depict those people who, in his opinion, would be ideal as inhabitants. Grant's sister and his dentist are immortalized as the characters Iowans were so offended by.

"Night Watch" or "Day Watch"?

Rembrandt, "Night Watch", 1642.

One of Rembrandt’s most famous paintings, “The Performance of the Rifle Company of Captain Frans Banning Cock and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburg,” hung in different rooms for about two hundred years and was discovered by art historians only in the 19th century. Since the figures seemed to appear against a dark background, it was called “Night Watch,” and under this name it entered the treasury of world art. And only during the restoration carried out in 1947, it was discovered that in the hall the painting had managed to become covered with a layer of soot, which distorted its color. After clearing the original painting, it was finally revealed that the scene represented by Rembrandt actually takes place during the day. The position of the shadow from Captain Kok's left hand shows that the duration of action is no more than 14 hours.

Overturned boat

Henri Matisse, "The Boat", 1937.

Henri Matisse's painting "The Boat" was exhibited at the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1961. Only after 47 days did someone notice that the painting was hanging upside down. The canvas depicts 10 purple lines and two blue sails on a white background. The artist painted two sails for a reason; the second sail is a reflection of the first on the surface of the water. In order not to make a mistake in how the picture should hang, you need to pay attention to the details. The larger sail should be the top of the painting, and the peak of the painting's sail should be toward the top right corner.

Deception in self-portrait

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with a Pipe, 1889.

There are legends that Van Gogh allegedly cut off his own ear. Now the most reliable version is that van Gogh damaged his ear in a small brawl involving another artist, Paul Gauguin. The self-portrait is interesting because it reflects reality in a distorted form: the artist is depicted with his right ear bandaged because he used a mirror when working. In fact, it was the left ear that was affected.

Two "Breakfasts on the Grass"

Edouard Manet, Luncheon on the Grass, 1863.

Claude Monet, Luncheon on the Grass, 1865.

Alien bears

Ivan Shishkin, “Morning in the Pine Forest”, 1889.

The famous painting belongs not only to Shishkin. Many artists who were friends with each other often resorted to “the help of a friend,” and Ivan Ivanovich, who painted landscapes all his life, was afraid that his touching bears would not turn out the way he wanted. Therefore, Shishkin turned to his friend, the animal artist Konstantin Savitsky.

Savitsky painted perhaps the best bears in the history of Russian painting, and Tretyakov ordered his name to be washed off the canvas, since everything in the picture “from the concept to the execution, everything speaks of the manner of painting, of the creative method peculiar to Shishkin.”

To an exhibition of paintings by Aivazovsky. But now here, in Tretyakov Gallery, in the Engineering Building, a unique exhibition is being held Secrets of old paintings. When you look at the back of the painting and find out that on the other side of the canvas, it turns out, there are also interesting mysteries. When else will they show you what is hidden under the main layer of the painting in X-ray radiation? When else will you see sketches of famous paintings in which the subjects and faces can be completely different?

Let's start with the most famous painting by Vasily Pukirev "Unequal Marriage". Pay attention to the young man with a beard who stands behind the bride. This is Vasily Pukirev himself and it was believed that this is the story of his unhappy love, when his bride was forced to marry Alexei Markovich Poltoratsky, who was the leader of the Tver nobility.

But...Let's look at the sketch of the painting and what do we see? Did you notice? Behind the bride is a similar, but slightly different person.

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This is Pukirev’s friend Sergei Mikhailovich Varentsov. He was in love with Sofya Nikolaevna Rybnikova, who was given in marriage to Andrei Aleksandrovich Karzinkin. And Varentsov was present at this wedding

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04. But what else do we see when analyzing the picture and history? It turns out that Andrei Karzinkin from the second version was only 37 years old at the time of the wedding, while Alexey Poltoratsky was quite an old man, which we see in the sketch “Head of an Old Man”, which was written for the painting. Although there are versions that the head was copied from Prince Pavel Tsitsianov or from the cook Vladimir Ivanovich, who served with the Varentsovs

05. And here, many years later, in 1907, a joker appears - a pencil drawing by V.D. Sukhov. And on it is the inscription: “Praskovya Matveevna Varentsova, with whom 44 years ago the artist V.V. Pukirev painted his famous painting “Unequal Marriage.” Mrs. Varentsova lives in Moscow, in the Mazurin almshouse.” So the mystery of the painting was solved

Go ahead. Here is Isaac Brodsky's painting "Park Alley", painted in 1930. It would seem that what is unusual about this? A park with Soviet people walking. But the researchers paid attention to trees whose crown was not very typical for Soviet parks

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The same painting by Brodsky from the Italian cycle “Park Alley in Rome”, written in 1911, was known. She was considered lost. And so the researchers decided to illuminate the painting “Park Alley” with X-rays. And what did they see? They saw the same painting “Park Alley in Rome” that was considered missing. Imagine 1930. The flywheel of repression begins to unwind. And a picture. praising bourgeois Italy could bring big problems to the artist. And Brodsky, slightly changing the figures of people, turns an Italian park into a Soviet park. But, thanks to X-rays and the tireless researchers of the Tretyakov Gallery, we can see the painting “Park Alley in Rome”. You can compare

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08. “Portrait of an unknown person in a cocked hat” by Fyodor Stepanovich Rokotov. It would seem, what is unusual about it? Well, the face looks like a woman's. But there seems to be nothing more. It was believed that this was a portrait of Count Bobrinsky.

09. But no. X-ray revealed to us a woman’s face, presumably the wife of the landowner Struisky, Olimpiada Sergeevna Balbekova. She died at the age of 20

10. “Portrait of Elizaveta Petrovna in her youth” by an unknown artist also seems to be a classic portrait of the mid-18th century. This is a copy of the painting by the court painter L. Caravaque "Portrait of Tsarevna Elizaveta Petrovna in a man's suit"

11. But looking at the reverse side of the picture, we see a mirror portrait of Elizabeth with the inscription “Her Imperial Highness the Crown Princess of Gdrnia in Her Young Lately, which was after the Most Serene Empress of Gdrnia Elisavet Petrovna.” It is interesting that the portrait was painted on the thinnest canvas. This is the only job like this in the world

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13. A funny story is connected with the painting “The Nun” by Ilya Repin. This is Sofia Repina, who married the artist’s brother. But why is she depicted as a nun?

14. The fact is that, according to the recollections of the artist’s niece L.A. Shevtsova-Spore, Repin and Sophia quarreled, and the artist freaked out. Well, a creative person happens. I took it and remade the light portrait of Sophia in a lace dress into a monastic one.

I guess I’ll stop here and won’t reveal the secrets of the other old paintings anymore. There must be a mystery for you. And, believe me, there are still a lot of secrets of various famous paintings that can be unraveled. So go, run urgently to this unique exhibition. It runs until August 21st. You still have time to catch it.

Thank you Grushenka , catherine_catty , lotta20 , balakina_ann , julia_lambert , da_dmitriy , nastyono4ka , bulyukina_e ,