All the following UFOs in paintings come mainly from the Renaissance period, which was roughly from 1350AD to 1680AD. Many of these UFO paintings have been debunked by art historians using the rules of stylised symbolism, and they do have a valid point. However, the issue is deeper … much deeper.
Christian religion was an essential topic for European painters of this era, and artistic Christian symbolism was an essential part of the composition code. No one should argue this point. However, the Bible is full of accounts that can be interpreted as either divine apparitions or extra-terrestrial visitations. In fact, there is a growing belief that the two are actually one and the same. The vision of the Prophet Ezekiel is a perfect example. His vision of God is more a description of a machine than anything else. Equally, real descriptions of angels bear almost no resemblance to the winged people we think of today.
In reality, there’s actually more tangible evidence for UFOs than there is for angels and other divine beings. A really interesting observation is that people used to witness angels and divine visitations fairly often, but that has pretty much stopped. It stopped around the time that people started perceiving UFOS. Truly, the story of people being taken up into heaven and people being abducted by UFOs is not that different.
The real reason the pictures of UFOs in paintings are important, even though they may have symbolic explanations, is that the artists of the renaissance period had no concept or belief in other worlds or extra-terrestrial civilisations even though we could describe Angels, Nephilim, Demons and the entire heavenly host as extra-terrestrials – essentially translated: Outside of The Earth.
It’s not about whether a cloud is a UFO or a ray of light is a laser; rather, we should be accepting that to Renaissance painters, there was no perceivable difference. We should be asking why illustrate the moon as a man in a capsule, why depict the sun as chasing the moon, why use vortexes to depict gates to other worlds and why show shields as part of the sky. Perhaps the people of the time were used to seeing certain celestial objects and simply incorporated them into their religious mythology. The same pattern can be seen around the world, from the Mayans of South America to the Indus Valley civilisations of India.
The next two references are out of chronological order but are definitive records of UFOS where symbolism is not an issue. In addition, both come with eyewitness accounts of extraordinary events. Here is clear proof that renaissance people were experiencing unexplained celestial phenomena. These are just two examples of many separate accounts.
The Nuremberg UFO Phenomena Of 1561
There were numerous reports of inexplicable celestial occurrences or mysterious flying objects in the sky over Nuremberg, Germany, in 1561. Some contemporary UFO enthusiasts have interpreted the occurrence as an extra-terrestrial aerial conflict.
Nuremberg UFO painting / Etching
According to a broadsheet from the time and published by Hans Glaser, as dawn broke on 14 April 1561, “many men and women” of Nuremberg saw an aerial battle come out of the sun”, followed by the appearance of a large black triangular object and exhausted combatant spheres falling to earth in clouds of smoke.”
The broadsheet reports that hundreds of spheres, cylinders, and other odd-shaped objects were seen by witnesses moving erratically overhead and appeared to be fighting each other. This description was supported by a woodcut engraving showing examples of the objects. The document is kept in the Zentralbibliothek – Zürich’s prints and drawings repository in Zürich, Switzerland.
UFOs in Paintings of the Basel Phenomenon of 1566
During August of 1566, some four years after the Nuremberg incident, there were widespread reports of celestial phenomena over Basel, Switzerland that were visible for three days. These were remarkably similar to the events that had taken place above the city of Nuremburg five years earlier during 1561.
UFOs in Paintings – The Basel Incident Pamphlet
Unusual sunrises and sunsets as well as inexplicable aerial phenomena are described in the Basel pamphlet of 1566. The ‘celestial elements’ are reported to have “battled” each other before the sun rose in the appearance of several crimson and black balls. Some ufologists believe the phenomenon to have been an aerial conflict between opposing forces of unidentified flying objects. The account of UFOs in Art was printed in the “Flugblatt of Basel 1566” a leaflet produced by Samuel Coccius and Samuel Apiarius and survives to this day.
The Crucifixion of Christ, 1350 – A clear depiction of UFOs in Paintings
Two UFOs are shown on the upper corners of an intriguing picture that hangs above the altar of the Visoki Decani Monastery in Kovoso. The strange objects in the Crucifixion of Christ 1350, according to many art historians, are meant to symbolise the sun and the moon and this may well be the case. The real question is… why show them this way. Is it because the painter associated the planets with celestial visitors?
Crucifixion of Christ – Visoki Decani
The depiction of the ‘sun and moon’ craft have a series of anomalies that need to be considered. For example, the pilot of the capsule on the right appears to be glancing back at the one behind him in the top left corner. Furthermore, neither of these pilots has a halo surrounding them, potentially ruling out the assumption that they are either representing divine objects or heavenly entities.
A closer view of the UFO on the right clearly shows the pilot touching some form of control panel or tablet. We see similar hand use in the image on the left which is clearly being powered by some form of heat generating engine – the Sun. The hand postures, often overlooked by art historians, clearly show that the craft are under some form of direct control. These two UFOs may well represent the personification of the moon and the sun, but they could well represent another dual perspective entirely.
Now that we know that UFOs are real, we can perhaps look at these artworks again in a new way and move on from the hysteria that has surrounded the debunking UFOs for the past 70 years.
The Miracle of the Snow, 1428-1432
The Miracle of the Snow by artist Masolino da Panicale is said to reflect the legend of snowfall in Rome on a hot summer’s day during August in the fourth century. Jesus and Mary seem to be overlooking the incident from the top of a cloud, but behind them are streams of disc shaped objects. According to art specialists these are clouds and feature in other works by Masolino and, given that the artwork represents a fall of snow, they are probably symbolically clouds. The question that needs to be asked is this – are they also something more than just clouds?
Miracle of the Snow by Masolino
Why would an artist who has devoted attention to detail in every other area of his work paint a cloud in such a manner? Was it because Masolino had witnessed otherworldly clouds during his life and was trying to capture their likeness?
Of particular interest is the way that the objects are depicted as moving in formation as if under specific control. It’s also critical to remember the context of the artwork. Snow in Rome during August would truly be a miracle so what was actually happening?
Although he was painting an event that had happened a 1000 years earlier, Masolino did have a unique advantage. He was a personal appointee of Pope Martin V at this time and is believed to have had access to Vatican records when composing the design of the painting.
This is also not the only account of ‘unusual’ clouds depositing a white crystalline substance on the ground beneath them. Whether or not this substance was actually snow remains highly debatable.
The Annunciation With Saint Emidius, 1486 (Clear example of UFOs in Paintings)
Carlo Crivello’s altarpiece The Annunciation with Saint Emidius is an artistic version of the event. The altarpiece was created for the Church of SS. Annunziata in the Italian town of Ascoli Piceno, in the Marche region, to commemorate the town’s self-government given by Pope Sixtus IV in 1482.
Annunciation with Saint Emidius
A weird object is observed in the sky shooting a beam of light toward the Virgin Mary, purportedly causing her to become pregnant with Jesus Christ. Ufologists contend that the narrow laser-like light is actually a UFO firing the beam and is further evidence of ancient aliens.
Critics point out that the artist was depicting an event that had taken place nearly 1,500 years in the past and point out that the UFO is actually a circle of angels. This design is seen in many other artworks and is standard religious symbolism. Again, the question that must be asked is why depict the phenomena in this manner. Why feature a vortex of spinning clouds and not a door or a window or an arch? These designs would be more contemporary to the time. For some reason heavenly interactions of this kind are almost always depicted as a swirling or static disc shape from which emanates rays of energy. We even see this in depictions of Ancient UFOs
It’s important to point out that clouds of dancing swirling angels are not something any modern person have ever seen. Is the simple answer that these symbolic representations were most likely based on sightings of aerial phenomena that were taking place across Europe at the time and being interpreted as religious events.
The Madonna with Saint Giovannino, Late 1400s
Domenico Ghirlandaio
In Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio’s Loeser Collection, there is a painting that never fails to captivate those who come to look at it. People are still perplexed by the identity of the weird item hovering in the sky in Domenico Ghirlandaio’s painting. Known as The Madonna with Saint Giovannino it’s become iconic in modern UFO lore.
The Madonna with Saint Giovannino
The oval-shaped object can be seen floating in the backdrop, just above the Madonna’s left shoulder. A man is standing beneath the saucer-shaped item, staring up at this unusual thing in the sky, while his dog is barking at the object as if disturbed by its presence. This is a strong clue that the artist does not intend that the object is an angel or heavenly being as the dog would have recognised this and failed to bark. A similar event can be seen in the painting – “The Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John and a Female Saint or Donor” where a celestial being appears and the animals are clearly supplicant.
A display of bright rays of light are emanating from the UFO that also appears to be both large and in motion. Close study of the device shows that it is moving upwards as if it had just visited and departed.
Art historians have claimed that the object is of no primary importance to the picture and may have just been a whim of the artist. This is clearly not the case as the characters, namely the man and dog are interacting with it suggesting an important relationship to the context of the overall picture.
Further art specialists claim the object is the moon being followed by the sun while another group believe that it is the nativity star. To the modern eye it looks like a grey oval aircraft, but it could just as easily be a meteorite. It may or may not be an alien spaceship, but it is certainly an unidentified flying object.
Another – The Madonna with Saint Giovannino (MK2)
Bartolommeo di Giovanni or Raffaellino de’ Carli.
(Sandro Botticelli e bottega, Madonna col bambino e San Giovanni no in un tondo, 1490-1500 ca.)
This is a painting based on exactly the same subject matter but by a completely different artist to the one above. In this picture, which was painted at a similar time in history, we can see that the Madonna has a most unusual halo. In most paintings, a halo is depicted either as a circle of glowing light in perspective with the subject or as a simple flat circle surrounding the head of the holy person. This picture is different.
Madonna col bambino e San Giovanni
The halo above the Madonna’s head is clearly a silver disk that looks incredibly similar to the depiction of a modern UFO. This also raises the question why halos are always depicted as a circle of radiance and light around the head of a holy person? There’s no doubt that the device is meant to be a halo but could it also represent something else too.
Triumph 0f Summer Tapestry, 1538
The Summer’s Triumph tapestry was made in the Belgian city of Bruges in 1538 AD. It is said to represent a successful ruler’s rise to power. A number of ‘hat-shaped’ flying objects in black may be seen near the top of the tapestry, particularly on the left-hand side. Designed as they are, they look very similar to the common modern depiction of UFO’s.
More UFOs in Paintings and Art – The Triumph of Summer
Art historians have a number of explanations ranging from religious ‘cardinals’ hats to ‘they’re just clouds’ Even if we assume that the artist painted these flying discs to depict a heavenly manifestation, the issue remains as to why the artist chose a disk-shaped object in the sky to represent a divine presence. This would only make sense If individuals at the time equated flying saucers with divinity. Possibly, it indicates they saw such things in the sky and associated them with a ‘godly’ phenomenon. Artists of the time knew how to paint clouds so what was the real symbolism behind these objects.
Many More Examples of UFOs in Paintings and Art
There are many other paintings and artworks from the renaissance period that depict possible UFOs. The artwork on the wall of the Monastery Church at the Medieval Citadel in Sighisoara, Transylvania looks like a UFO hovering above a burning church. It even has an exhaust plume. Historians say it’s a shield. The Baptism of Christ by Piero della Francesca shows a flying saucer shaped object near the head of Christ but, in this case, it is probably just a cloud. The painting of the Baptism of Christ painted in 1710 by Aert de Gelder also shows a heavenly vortex and what may be a UFO with rays of light emanating from its hull. Historians say it’s just symbolism.
UFOs in Art, Pareidolia or Something Else?
The big question is… are we seeing something that isn’t there or have we been missing the true meaning of this symbolism for centuries? Is it even a fusion of both?
Most religions, whether ancient or more modern, have some striking similarities. They all refer to heavenly phenomena, they often refer to wise beings coming down from the sky to help the people of Earth and they almost always refer to some form of flying craft. The Sumerians had the Anunnaki, the Native Americans referred to the sky people, Christianity, Judaism and Islam all have references to heavenly beings interacting with humans. In India the gods rode in flying chariots called vimana and the ancient Greeks had Zeus, Pegasus, and the Meteoroi. The Dogon people of Africa believe that they were visited by Star gods and the ancient religion of Egypt had many deities associate with both the sky and the sun. In the old testament, The Bible clearly states that Zechariah looks up and sees four flying vehicles coming from heaven. Not beings – vehicles.
The real issue is not whether a historical objects in art look like a UFOs. The question should be… Why does so much religious symbolism seem so extra-terrestrial? When seen this way, the relationship between religious symbolism and potential extra-terrestrial encounters seems more plausible every day.
