Check out 5 famous paintings full of mysteries

Unsurprisingly, there are many famous paintings wrapped in curious stories or depicting mysterious elements. Thanks to the technologies available today - such as carbon dating, chemical analysis and diagnostic imaging - some of these secrets have been made clear.

However, there are many other paintings that continue to intrigue restorers and experts, with elements that are likely to be clarified only if the authors return from their graves! The folks at Quo have put together several of these works - some with their mysteries already unraveled, some not - in one interesting article, and you can check out five of them below:

1 - The Girls

Image source: Reproduction / Wikipedia

Painted by Velázquez in 1656, the painting depicts the family of Philip IV. All the people who appear in the painting are known but one - the woman who appears marked in the figure - and no one knows the lady's identity in the dim light. Another curiosity about “Las Meninas” is that it is not known if the painter reproduced a scene reflected in a mirror or if the intention was to portray the kings, who appear in a mirror in the background.

2 - Gioconda

Image source: Reproduction / Wikipedia

Also known as the Mona Lisa, the above is probably one of the most famous and intriguing paintings in the world. The painting was created by Leonardo da Vinci in the 16th century, and officially depicts a woman named Lisa Gherardini. However, Italian experts pointed out that the face may have been inspired by the painter's lover, a boy named Gian Giacomo Caprotti or “Salai”. It will be?

3 - Doctor Paul Gachet

Image source: Reproduction / Wikipedia

By style you may have already deduced that it is a Van Gogh work. The picture is from 1890 and, in fact, has no mysterious element in its composition. However, Ryoei Saito, the man who acquired it in 1990 for the scandalous $ 82.5 million, promised that when he died he would be cremated along with the portrait and, since he died in 1996, more no one set eyes on Dr. Gachet.

4 - Matilde

Image Source: Reproduction / Floriana Jucan

The woman above, portrayed by Diego Rivera, is Matilde Urrutia and was the third wife of Pablo Neruda. However, the two got involved while the Chilean Nobel was still married, and the painter of the work, who knew the affair among lovers, gave the painting to Matilde with a hidden little surprise. If you pay attention to the play's hair, you will notice that Rivera inserted Neruda's profile between the woman's curls.

5 - La reproduction interdite

Image Source: Playback / WikiPaintings

In the interesting painting above, painted in 1937, Rene Magritte concealed the identity of the man from the image and eventually aroused the curiosity of art experts for a long time. Today it is known that this is the banker Edward James, who was portrayed from a photograph taken while contemplating a work of the artist.

But until the mysterious identity was finally revealed, it was thought to be a portrait of Edgar Alan Poe due to the book that appears on the scene, titled "The Narration of Arthur Gordon Pym."

* Originally posted on 10/07/2013.

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