Anachronistic Art: UFO or Something Else?

Madonna with Saint Giovannino, by Domenico Ghirlandaio 1449 – 1494, is a famous painting on display in Florence, Italy. Whilst the illustration itself is an intricate and masterful piece of Renaissance art, upon closer inspection one can see a bizarre object over the shoulder of the muse. This led to century-long debates of what the object is.

Some people have looked closely and just see a cloud, but several experts theorise that the artist may have been representing an unidentified flying object, or UFO. The inclusion of this object must have had a purpose, as the shepherd and dog are looking up at it too. However, this image was painted in a religious context, which leads to the question: why is it there?

Ancient alien theorists believe the artist has clearly depicted a UFO in the sky. With additional evidence of several ancient paintings also containing foreign objects in the sky, the alien theorists hypothesise the existence of aliens. They believe aliens have been communicating with humans for millennia. While this sounds far-fetched, the existence of aliens has been a controversial subject for centuries and when considering the immense size of the universe; may not be such a crazy idea.

Other people think the UFO is a representation of the gospel passage, “…shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, an angel of the Lord come upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them…” Gospel of Luke 2:8. Many paintings in the Florentine Renaissance period were driven by Biblical context, depicting similar nativity scenes of a celestial object in the sky. These objects were most commonly angels, stars or a bright light. However, the absence of wings and a body make it difficult to conclude what Ghirlandaio’s ‘UFO’ actually illustrates. The alien conspiracy will always exist, as this is a plausible explanation. However, a more logical explanation is just simply that this was the artist’s interpretation of the divine spirit of God, an ancient Biblical script or religious iconography.

Written by:
Carissa - 45173737

Images:

https://keyassets-p2.timeincuk.net/wp/prod/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2015/02/The-madonna-with-final.jpg

Sources:

https://www.historicmysteries.com/madonna-with-saint-giovannino/

http://stuffnobodycaresabout.com/2015/02/28/ufo-in-a-15th-century-painting/