Mysteries surrounding ancient history have always fascinated me. And in recent times I have cultivated this new habit of studying ancient paintings, particularly those of the famous Leonardo da Vinci. And arguably his most famous, and the world’s most popular painting revealed a bizarre secret to me as I was doing some editing tricks with it on my tablet pc.
The Mona Lisa!
The above pic was the deliberate editing that I extracted from the painting by Da Vinci.
I would call this particular extract – ‘The Mona’s Couple’. Known for his secret clues and hidden meanings often embedded in his paintings, Da Vinci is known for his famous ‘mirror images’. People often believed that most of his secrets were only revealed when one held a mirror in front of his paintings. But Da Vinci was not ready for the powerful editing software of today.
As you observe, the edited image clearly gives us a female and a male figure. Maybe a stately wealthy couple who lived during Da Vinci’s times? Men and women both usually had long hair during the Renaissance period. Also, notice that the female is visibly slim with soft features and the male is visibly broad with masculine features. Da Vinci was deliberately making a point here – Yes, this is a female and yes, this is a male. Because remember, Da Vinci was not painting it for the editing software of today, but for anyone who held a mirror up to his painting.
He wanted to make sure that the unusually slim and unusually broad figures would look apart and apprise the viewer that the Mona Lisa secretly had two individuals, a couple in it.
Also, notice the background. For centuries scholars and historians wondered why the background in the Mona Lisa looked offset and unparallel from the left to the right. When I first made this editing discovery, I wanted to believe that the figures represented a young daughter and her mother. I also wanted to believe that this painting was a secret time capsule representing the same person (a woman) but in two different times – A young lady before wedlock and the same one years later a mature woman. This would have explained the two different backgrounds, as to say that the same woman had lived in two different locations during her life.
But, that theory was shattered when I noticed that little obvious dent on the male figure’s neck. Da Vinci is one of the greatest painters the world has ever seen, his works are exceptional. If he was conveying this secret mirror image, he would have made sure to paint in such a way that the dent was avoided. Unless he wanted to leave a clue.
That dent is an obvious clue for a male’s Adam’s apple. As in to tell the viewer – Don’t make a mistake, this is a male and yes this is a couple.
Who is this couple?
Also, the idea that the couple would live in two different locations, as portrayed in the two different backgrounds made no sense to me. There is clearly a calm reflecting lake or a river of some kind behind the female figure, and there is this vast sea with rocky beaches and also some kind of island behind the male figure. Is there a possibility that the ‘couple’ were actually facing each other in the same place, like on a Renaissance date? That would give two different backgrounds too.
In my own research, I have come to realize that Da Vinci always has at least three dimensions to all his paintings. First, the direct meaning (like the Mona Lisa), second, the indirect meaning (like her smile and the background), and third, the outlandish meaning (like the mirror image I have edited).
People often argue with one dimension over the other, trying to debunk the other with their own dimension. But I believe that all the dimensions are Da Vinci’s intent.
I don’t know much about the quest for the Holy Grail. I am not an expert. But I have wondered as I have come to settle with the notion that whoever has found the Holy Grail, his greatest glory and joy is not only in knowing what and where the Holy Grail is but having the pleasure of laughing (secretly) at all those phonies who claim to have the real Holy Grail.