Over 300 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of Classical Paintings That Appear To Contain Depictions Of UFOs
Voting Rules
Vote up the paintings that give off extraterrestrial vibes.
Aliens and UFOs are two of the most debated and pondered things in human history. Our universe contains two trillion galaxies aside from our own, making it impossible to prove if life exists on another planet in another galaxy.
Who's to say if aliens visited Earth centuries ago? Is it possible they left messages for us through art? There are endless possibilities, but for now, here's a list of classical paintings that may (or may not) have UFOs or aliens hidden inside.
Illustration of Utsuro-Bune from 'Hyōryū Kishū ', 1835
In the Hitachi region of Japan in 1803, a strange object, which appears to have been a saucer-shaped vessel or ship, washed ashore and caught the attention of many. The event and accompanying illustrations were immortalized in three major texts: Toen Shōsetsu in 1825, Hyōryū Kishū in 1835, and Ume-No-Chiri in 1844.
The illustration depicted here is from the 1835 publication of Hyōryū Kishū, which translates to "Archives of Castaways." In that book, they called the object "utsuro-bune," which means "hollow ship." According to some legends, a beautiful woman emerged from the ship when it washed ashore, wearing unusual clothes and carrying a mysterious box with strange lettering on it.
Domenico Ghirlandaio painted The Madonna With Saint Giovannino in the 15th century during the height of the Renaissance in Italy. If you look closely in the background, you can see a man who appears to be a shepherd with his dog pointing at an object in the sky.
The dog seems to be barking at the strange object, and the Madonna is painted with her back to it as if she's protecting the baby Saint Giovannino from seeing it. Some say it's a record of a UFO sighting, others say it could be religious symbolism of an angel.
In the early 18th century, Flemish painter Aert De Gelder painted this image of John baptizing Jesus. The painting depicts what looks like a flying saucer in the sky beaming light down towards Jesus and John.
Some believe this is a reference to the Bible verse (Matthew 3:16) describing the event:
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.
Others say that because Aert De Gelder was a prominent artist of his time, he depicted a UFO to prove not only the existence of extraterrestrials but also that aliens were present during the baptism of Christ.
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Cave Paintings Of Charama, 8000 BCE
Cave paintings have been discovered in Charama, India, that seem to depict flying saucers and creepy, faceless, humanoid figures. The drawings and carvings bear a striking resemblance to the UFOs and aliens we see today in movies and television.
Citizens of Charama and their governments have been so compelled by these findings that they've gone to NASA to request further investigation. Archeologists date the images to be 10,000 years old. Some believe the images depict citizens of India worshipping the figures emerging from UFOs in the drawings, leading to the conclusion that extraterrestrials may have ruled Earth at one point in history.
Masolino da Panicale painted this depiction of snowfall in August in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, in the 15th century. The painting is a depiction of the legend Pope Liberius and Giovanni discovering a patch of unmelted snow in Rome in August of 352, which would be miraculous since it's rare to have snow in Rome, even in the winter. According to the story, the patch of snow was a sign from Mother Mary to build a church there, and they did so.
Above the patch of snow, there are what seems to be dozens of saucer-shaped flying objects. According to the story, these were supposed to be snow, although they look like potential UFOs.
Even stranger, this story bears resemblance to an event that occurred on October 27, 1954, in Florence, Italy. Thousands of people reported sightings of UFOs in the sky followed by a light dusting of a white, cotton-like substance that disintegrated if held in one's hands. In fact, a football match was stopped and an entire stadium looked above at what appeared to be a "floating egg" above Stadio Artemi Franchi. Athlete Ardico Magnini reported seeing "silver glitter" rain down from the sky after the UFO appeared.
Since then, no one has been able to explain the strange incident from October 1954, but it does bear a striking resemblance to the legend depicted in Panicale's Miracle of the Snow.
This fresco is located at the Visoki Dečani Monastery in Kosovo, Serbia, in the Eastern Orthodox visual style. On the upper corners of the left and right panels, there seem to be flying objects with rays of light streaming from them.
Eastern Orthodox art has a strong visual language, and in all depictions of Christ on the crucifix, there is a sun and moon. Some argue that these two objects are the sun and moon, while others believe it's proof that the artist was trying to capture an alien visitation.
