Skulls to Hidden Selfies: 5 Secrets Hidden in Great Artworks

Check out the hidden clues these artists left in their paintings

A selfie in a glass, a hidden skull or a masked drawing that tells the viewer much more than they think... Sometimes you need a magnifying glass to discover the secrets hidden in history’s most famous paintings.

Mistakes and tributes, intrigues and affairs, teaching and inspiration... How many secrets have been hidden inside some of history’s most famous artworks? This video reveals 5 of the secrets hidden in great works of art. Don’t miss it!

1. A painting within a painting

Sometimes a secret lies hidden behind several layers of paint and varnish. Restoration of Vermeer’s Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window revealed that a simple white wall actually masked the painting of a naked Cupid. Nobody knows exactly why it was hidden, but the job was done after the Dutch master died. What we do know is that the meaning and composition of the painting is radically changed by revealing the lost element, which gives us a clue about the contents of the letter.

Something similar occurred in this painting by Hendrick van Anthonissen. Restoration revealed the body of a whale, giving entirely new meaning to the group of people gathered on what had initially been seen as an empty beach.

On other occasions, these hidden paintings simply showed there’s nothing more human than a change of heart. Some of history’s greatest painters, including Picasso and Velázquez, changed their work to greater and lesser extents.

2. Hidden proverbs and words games

Netherlandish Proverbs by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, is a painting that works like Where’s Wally! But in this version of the game you have to find the classic sayings.

The painting shows a land inhabited by over a hundred literal representations of Flemish proverbs. And although some have been lost forever, many are still said today. For example, “to kill two birds with one stone,” “to be armed to the teeth,” “to toss feathers to the wind” or “to bang your head against a brick wall”.

3. Clara Peeters’ hidden selfies

Clara Peeters was one of the great Baroque still life painters. And she was also an expert at leaving her mark in each painting. Centuries before the selfie, she scattered her work with her reflections, in glasses, vases and dishes. All you have to do is look closely to find hidden selfies of the artist.

4. (Not so hidden) inspirations

It’s no secret that many artists have been inspired by others throughout history. Sometimes this is more obvious, like in Ruben’s copy of Titian’s Adam and Eve.

While at others it is merely glimpsed, like in Manet’s Olympia. Which is based on Titian’s Venus of Urbino, which was itself inspired by Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus.

The 20th century gave birth to the world’s most famous room... and it’s pop-art version. Lichtenstein painted a tribute to Van Gogh, adapting his room to the perfection of 20th century living, with contemporary chairs and white, business shirts.

5. Is that a skull?

What’s that thing in the middle of The Ambassadors? The strange object, sometimes referred to as a cuttlebone, is in fact something much more sinister: a human skull deformed by anamorphosis, a deformation technique very fashionable in England at that time.

Simply looking at the painting from a particular perspective, or through a spoon (!) allows you to appreciate what this work by Hans Holbein the Younger is really about: the struggle between science and the arts and the immense nature of death.

Love this video? Tell us if you knew any of these interesting art history facts in the comments.

English version by @studiogaunt.

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