There are many web sites around the internet that show UFO's in old paintings and other forms of ancient art. Our pages have collected several of the ones we consider good examples, and we have also included a few that can be easily debunked. While we agree that there were Ancient Visitors that influenced Mankind throughout the ages, not all representations are necessarily to be interpreted as "UFO's" without looking at other factors. 

When this work is finished we will draw our own conclusions and present them. In the meantime enjoy the collection and draw your own conclusions. For those who wish to see the counter point of view, there is an excellent web site that has worked hard to try to explain the anomalies from a Religious symbolic point of view. In all fairness, there are many examples that clearly show what has been considered a "UFO" by some is nothing more than a Cardinals Hat. In order for any investigation to be sound, one needs to look at all the facts before jumping to conclusions.

Our contention is that symbolic representation as described by the Church is not the correct interpretation, but that will be covered elsewhere. The counter site is listed below...

ART and UFOs? No thanks, only art...  by Diego Cuoghi  (translation: Daniela Cisi)
 

One of the key points he makes is the quality of images used on the UFO sites when good quality images are readily available in the public domain. He also makes several valid points that any serious researcher needs to follow...

Excerpt:
The images at issue in these sites are generally the same ones. Once a new image appears into one site, it spreads out immediately into the others as well, usually together with the same identical comments.

The first impression is that at the basis of these web sites lies a very simplistic methodology, being any historical or artistic knowledge carefully avoided. The standard practice seems to be: first taking a book concerning art, better if dealing with art works of the XVII or previous centuries; then looking for any strange detail, above all saucer like objects of any kind. That's it. This way, obviously, it is easy both to detect strange elements and to declare them “alien” or “unidentified” in respect to the environment or the period in which they appear.

The point is that no one of the authors of these web sites takes into account the symbolic meaning of these strange elements in respect to the art of the period. Worst of all, by considering these elements as the representation of something real or really seen by the artist, they assume that the artist, e.g.. an Italian artist of the ‘400 or an anonymous Byzantine painter, may actually be allowed to insert any non canonical or un-codified element into a religious representation. On the contrary, in past times the commissioners (those who choose the subject and supervised the execution of the art work - in these cases the religious institutions) would have never allowed the author to insert into a work of art anything other than what previously decided, especially in case of religious subjects. In this latter case, in addition, restrictions were even stronger.

The above painting is called "The Annunciation with Saint Emidius" (1486) by Carlo Crivelli (1430-1495) and currently hangs in the National Gallery, London. (Click on image for larger view)

Below is a close-up fine detail of the Saucer Shaped object emitting the beam of light...
 

This image is one of the more famous UFO in Art representations and as a result has gathered a lot of discussion and controversy. The reason why can be seen in the detail below, in the fact that there is a man and his dog aware of the object and peering up at it.
 

Below is a clip from the other side of the painting. As this symbol is present in other images it is noteworthy to include it here.

 "But this is not the only peculiarity of the painting: for example, to the upper left we see the Nativity Star with three other small stars, or perhaps flames. A very similar detail is present in the Madonna of the Book (1480) by Sandro Botticelli"   Diego Cuoghi

(See Below)

Clip Credit Diego Cuoghi

The "Angel in the Glowing Cloud" motive is a recurring theme in many Religious paintings. Diego Cuoghi on his web site has documents dozens of examples, and though his opinion on what they represent differs from ours, his work in detailing the examples is fantastic.

For our explaination of what this represents please visit Of Angels and Cherubim.

This image is one of the best showing a disc shaped object emitting beams of light. It is not in the shape of a cloud, nor does it have angels or cherubim floating around. As most Religious paintings duplicate scenes from previous eras, one has to ask where this artist got the data to paint his version.

Though there are many incidences where the "hat shaped" objects truly ARE hats, this object is definately in the sky in the background.

Salimbeni's Sputnik depiction of the year 1600

This strange depiction is frequently selected for television documentaries, such as Voyager, which specialise in unexplainable phenomena. It has appeared in countless international magazines with varied interpretations and theories, achieving fame and creating controversy, none of which Ventura Salimbeni could ever in his wildest dreams have imagined.