It’s well known that Leonardo da Vinci protected his thoughts with a form of secret writing: a cursive script traced out from right to left, readable only by the use of a mirror.

But if an Argentine group calling itself the Mirror of the Sacred Scriptures and Paintings World Foundation is correct, da Vinci and his contemporaries may have been doing a lot more with mirrors than anyone has previously imagined.

Perhaps you’ve wondered about the conventions of classical art — the outstretched hands and elegant gestures; characters which stare into space, as if looking for the Divine.

They’re cues, according to the Mirror of Sacred Scriptures website: guidelines for the placement of mirrors which reveal hidden faces, symbols, and subjects. The meaning of some are obscure. Others are disturbing, mystical — and occasionally obscene.

The Italian newspaper la Repubblica recently publicized a sampling of these secret images. We’ve reproduced four here, taken from two of da Vinci’s best-known works.

Here is Leonardo’s The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist, a charcoal dating to the turn of the 16th century, now part of the National Gallery in London:

Mary is on the left with the infant Jesus. Anne is to our right, with a young John the Baptist. Notice Anne’s hand, held in what is known as the Leonardesque Gesture, an enigmatic pose found in the painter’s later works. The Mirror Foundation believes it signifies the presence of a secret — you’ll see something similar in the Last Supper, which also seems to contain hidden images. Notice that the young John is not looking at Jesus, but past him.

The image below — produced by a computer which simulates a mirror placed at a slight angle, crossing the plane of Mary’s left leg — reveals what John the Baptist sees:

What to make of this horrifying face? The Mirror Foundation suggests it is topped by the Papal Tiara. Perhaps it portends the coming power of the Church. Or maybe it’s a helmeted centurion — a hint of the coming Crucifixion.

The next painting is of an adult John the Baptist. He’s sitting against a rock face with his legs in a somewhat unnatural position.

John’s hand points to our right — and to the unseen half of Leonardo’s secret:

The meaning of this lurid image will be immediately obvious to those familiar with tantric iconography. This is an image of creation. The rock face has become the Tree of Life. Beneath it, Adam and Eve are engaged in coitus. Welcome to the Garden of Eden.

Coincidence? Judge for yourself at the Mirror Foundation’s website. You’ll find Flash animations revealing similar mirror images in dozens of famous sacred works, including Michaelangelo’s David and Pieta. It’s cooler than the da Vinci Code.

Correction: We originally identified the research team as Italian. Our text has been corrected to reflect that the Mirror Foundation is, in fact, based in Argentina.

Link: Mirror of the Sacred Scriptures and Paintings World Foundation