Three near-invisible drawings discovered on back of Da Vinci masterpiece

[Adsos Letter]

Source: TimesOnline

The mystery is set in the Louvre and the clues are hidden behind a 16th-century masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci. Remind you of anything?

Lovers of Dan Brown novels will be salivating at the discovery of three previously unknown drawings on the back of one of Leonardo’s major works. A curator spotted the sketches on the back of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne when it was taken down in September for restoration.

Sylvain Laveissière pointed out some grey marks that had previously been dismissed as stains. To him they resembled a horse’s head and a human skull.

When the painting was photographed with an infra-red camera at the Centre for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France, he was proved right. On the wood on which the work was mounted was an 18cm by 10cm (7in by 4in) equine head and a 16.5cm by 10cm skull, complete with orbital and nasal cavities, jaw and teeth. The camera detected a third drawing, a 15cm-high infant Jesus with a lamb, which was invisible to the naked eye.



Read more: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article5365300.ece

[Fearless]

1. IMHO Jesus had to actually be the son of some god BEFORE...

his lineage could mean more than crap to me. Nice detective work though. Kudos to them.

:hi:

[aquart]

4. Why even then?

Many families have claimed royalty thru a god ancestor. Do THEIR lineages mean something to you?

[Fearless]

5. Well there is a difference between claim and truth...

I didn't mean that I'd join the nearest church by any means. But, it would interest me if there was actually a descendant of a cold and heartless creator living amongst us. Of course, it may just be the history teacher in me.

:evilgrin:

[acmavm]

6. Friggin' article on Da Vinci and it provides fodder for a religious bigot,

the only kind ALLOWED on DU, a reason to crawl out of the woodwork with their nasty, denigrating, snotty, troublemaking crap.

Amazing.

[superconnected]

7. You noticed that too! Well, second thought, how could anyone miss it.

I've said all along that religion doesn't cause people to do screwed up things - man does. The average DU atheist only proves to me that it doesn't take any religion at all to be an intolerant bigot.

[roguevalley]

19. I agree with you about man being the author of the crap of this world

we have free will. God has no claim on the shit we do. We *chose* it and we let it happen or not. That is our burden. Amazing how some aetheists here claim their is no god but chuck every ill at his feet.

[Divine Discontent]

35. I didn't miss it either...

some people think only religious people can be callously demeaning and bigoted of others views.

[Bandit]

8. You seem quite confused as to the meaning of the word bigot

People questioning something is not bigotry. People not believing in fantasy stories is not bigotry. People spouting hatred, say of athiests, for example is bigotry.

[robcon]

9. People spouting hatred, say of believers, for example, is bigotry.

n/t

[Bandit]

10. And did you see that in any of the above posts?

The only example of someone spouting hatred that I saw was not from an athiest..

[pipoman]

33. Bigot does not mean

hatred, it means intolerance. In this case going out of ones way to belittle the beliefs of others even though the OP is about art, an artist, a 500 year old new discovery.

Intolerance means:

# impatience with annoyances; "his intolerance of interruptions"
# unwillingness to recognize and respect differences in opinions or beliefs
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

# intolerant - unwilling to tolerate difference of opinion
# intolerant - illiberal: narrow-minded about cherished opinions
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

# intolerantly - in an intolerant manner
# intolerantly - in a narrow-minded manner; "his illiberally biased way of thinking"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

# intolerant - Unable or indisposed to tolerate, endure or bear; Not tolerant; close-minded about new or different ideas. ...
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intolerant

an attitude of not accepting or respecting different opinions, practices, or people
www.umw.edu/bias/terms/default.php

The bold emphasis is mine.

[Zhade]

23. Yes. But that didn't happen here. No believers were attacked for being believers.

Shit, no believers were attacked period.

[acmavm]

11. Don't try to even obsfucate on this one. And you're another one.

[roguevalley]

20. "people spouting hatred, say of athiests, for example is bigotry."

then conversely, the reverse is true.

[Zhade]

24. I would agree. Of course, that's not what happened here.

NT!

[snooper2]

12. nasty, denigrating, snotty, troublemaking crap

I love how the "believers" get their panties in a twad when their "belief" is under attack...


I thought that was the whole point? nobody can shake your "faith"


Can't you just laugh it off? here...

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[acmavm]

17. I don't doubt a number of things. The first thing I know for sure is that you

shitheads are really pitiful. Shake what off. The fact that you asswipes can't even hold a thought long enough to zap off a thread that's on target, not some shit dredged up out of your nastiness little prejudices?

Like I said, the topic was on 3 newly discovered drawings by Da Vinci. Only bigots and asswipes would turn it into a rant against religion.

[snooper2]

18. Thank you...

you made me laugh again today :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Zhade]

25. Being against religion is not bigoted.

NT!

[pipoman]

32. Being intolerant to the point of belittling it even when off topic is,

BTW, who in their right mind could actually be "against religion"? Maybe choose not to believe, or against hypocrisy, or against zealotry but against religion? Really?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=K3a&q=define%3Abigot&btnG=Search

Definitions of bigot on the Web:

a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

One strongly loyal to one's own social group, and irrationally and prejudicially intolerant or disdainful of others
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bigot

bigoted - blindly and obstinately attached to some creed or opinion and intolerant toward others; "a bigoted person"; "an outrageously bigoted point of view"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Narrow minded or prejudice in your beliefs.
www.godonthe.net/dictionary/b.html

a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices
acaclassof2010studyguides.blogspot.com/2007/10/sat-vocabulary-word-list-updated.html

bigotry - Intolerance toward those of different creeds or religious affiliations.
www.njfreemason.net/masonic%20dictionary.htm

bigotry - is prejudice or an intolerance toward people who are different in appearance or viewpoint.
highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0073531936/399662/Feldman8_esl_mod44.doc

Bigotry describes attitudes of intolerance towards people, behaviours, and personal attributes. Bigotry constitutes "active" expression of prejudiced belief systems.
earnsupport.com/Glossary.html

[acmavm]

37. You have most certainly set the water mark for stupid for the day.

big·ot (bĭg'ət) Pronunciation Key
n. One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.



Oh well, I guess it was your day to be DU Dunce.

[Doremus]

15. Sheesh.

"religious bigot"
"nasty, denigrating, snotty, troublemaking crap"


'Tis a lovely religion. :eyes:

[roguevalley]

21. how was the op about religion? How did religion end up in the mix?

[Zhade]

26. Uh, you didn't get the whole Davinci Code reference IN THE STORY?

Man, some of you believers are way too in love with your persecution complexes.

[Zhade]

22. For me, there'd have to be concrete evidence he even existed.

Sorry kids, Josephus' "mention" of him was a forgery!

[pipoman]

31. I always find it amazing

how many on this forum found the reports of Korans being put in a toilet and walked on to be criminal, reprehensible, and wrong...which I tend to agree with (with the exception of criminal maybe), yet tolerate and participate in similar activity right here on this board when it involves Christianity. Further, to take even the most obscure opportunity to denigrate other people's beliefs indicates to me a truly pathetic, intolerant existence. Obviously art appreciation isn't one of your interests.

[Fearless]

36. It's not the action... it's the intention...

Dumping Koran's in the toilet was meant to anger people. This thread, located in a public forum, expressing personal belief directed at no one, does not do that.

[pipoman]

39. It was also off topic, had no relevance to the OP,

and would obviously be offensive to Christians. There seem to be plenty of flame bait religious threads here for that, why pollute a thread about art with divisive religion bashing?

[Fearless]

40. Because people like to hear themselves speak.

[defendandprotect]

2. This "Lover of Dan Brown Da Vinci Code" regrets Opie made car-chase movie

of it for 11 year olds ....

on purpose, I presume -- but Opie often plays naive/dumb in interviews

and no one dare criticizes his work.

A movie should have had even more impact than the book--!!

I'm guessing that was less than desirable for those who put Opie on it --

[aquart]

3. Impact? Like...belief?

[defendandprotect]

28. Like awakening ... enlightenment ...consciousness-raising ....

[brentspeak]

27. "Opie car-chase movie?" I liked that film...

[shrike]

13. Artists paint over canvasses they've already used for something else

Happens all the time. To do otherwise is to waste material.

PBS sometimes has segments on paintings discovered underneath other paintings.

[Elderon]

14. Doodles

or maybe it was Graffiti?

either way, I think we should all focus on these magnificient works of art that a mere mortal human created over 500 Years ago.

Hey, I know... maybe it was like one of those art tests.. You know? Draw the turtle?

Draw the Horse!!

ok, anyway

[illuminaughty]

30. When I was young I was just sure I'd be discovered

if I sent in one of those art tests! Welcome to DU and I think you've got something there about focusing on the art history part of the OP. DU is a slugfest lately but it isn't always like this.:hi:

[lumberjack_jeff]

38. Exactly. It was his admittance test to the reniassance school of art. n/t

[melm00se]

16. the researchers, earlier

today, released one of the the images, the one that looked like a skull:

[illuminaughty]

29. Wow adso, how dare you bring culture to DU?

lol, I saw 28 responses and was hoping it was from art lovers. But, it disintegrated quickly into a "fuck your religion/non religion" thread. Oh well, the family's coming into town tomorrow and the flaming threads will prep me for the insanity of it all.

Thanks for the post, flame baiter. Kidding, of course.;-)

[pipoman]

34. Really a great story

one of my wishes is to one day make it to the Louvre.

[Baclava]

41. So daVinci was doodling

What's the big deal?

[pipoman]

42. Every scribble, mark, and scribe

of every art grand master is cataloged, studied, speculated upon and written about. This is as impactful to the art world as finding an unknown Beetles track or Beethoven movement would be to the music world, or discovery of an unknown Shakespearean manuscript would be to the literary world. These 'doodles' will be exhaustively speculated on for years to come. Keep in mind there are many art scholars who have spent their entire lives and careers studying daVinci oblivious to these pieces right under their noses. It truly is remarkable.