12 Masterpieces Everyone Knows, but few Have Noticed the Hidden Details
The Scream by Edvard Munch
This Norwegian artist’s painting can hardly leave anyone indifferent. To this day, the masterpiece still raises countless questions in the public eye. Fortunately, one of the mysteries of “The Scream” has, in fact, been solved. Until recently, scientists were arguing over who could have written the sentence “can only have been painted by a madman” on the painting. Analysis of the painter’s handwriting revealed that this ambiguous inscription was the work of Munch himself.
The painting was put on public display, for the first time, in 1895. A young medical student, who visited the exhibition at the time, expressed the suspicion that the author of this painting could not be mentally healthy. Scholars believe that it was after this incident that Munch added this statement to the painting.
View of Scheveningen Sands, Hendrick van Anthonissen
Until 2014, the painting “View of Scheveningen Sands” by the Dutch painter Hendrick van Anthonissen looked a little different. According to employees at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, the people in the painting, staring at nothing, always raised questions from visitors and experts alike. All became clear during a restoration. A whale was discovered on the canvas after experts removed a layer of paint.
Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio
Only the most attentive viewer will notice the “Easter egg” hidden by Caravaggio on this canvas. Take a closer look at the fruit basket, at the very edge of the table. The shadow it casts looks a lot like a fish.
It’s likely that the painter deliberately used this Christian symbol. Remember, that Jesus once fed a crowd of people with just a few fish. Other food items also support this theory. The apples, for example, refer to the story of the fall of man, and the pomegranates symbolise the Church.
