The Strange Object in the Madonna Painting
In a 15th-century painting of the Madonna in Florence, a man and his dog stare up at a glowing, grey object in the sky behind her.
What was reported
The Madonna with Saint Giovannino is a 15th-century Italian painting, now in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, attributed to an artist in the circle of Filippo Lippi. It shows Mary with the infant Jesus and the young John the Baptist. Over her left shoulder, in the background, a small figure and a dog look up at a dark, oval object in the sky, edged with golden rays.
UFO writers have presented it as evidence that people in Renaissance times saw flying craft.
Explanations offered
Art historians say the object is a familiar religious symbol: a glowing cloud or a star bearing an angel, referring to the announcement of Jesus's birth to the shepherds, which often appears in the backgrounds of nativity paintings. The man looking up is one of the shepherds.
- When
- Painted in the 1400s
- Where
- Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Tuscany, Italy
- Witnesses
- Art historians and UFO writers
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
More from Italy