Nice this process was picked up..Gives us to understand the precisness of his mindset when beginning a project. Surely he wasn't open ended...

Renee Brown, Buffalo, USA

I agree with scholars..Leonardo as well as other masters .and true today did sketches everywhere and sometimes beneath paintings,if they changed their mind on subject matter or decided to make changes in composition...a common occurence...nothing hidden except ..the artist simply moved on .

a.williams, manchester,nh, hillsbourogh

Nostrodamas had foretold all this.

Richard, London, UK

The Da Vinci Code proves Leonardo DiCarprio was right all along.

Dom, London,

Looks more to me like it says "class of '39" <grin>

HarryDupa, Troxell, USA

Apparently the DaVinci Code is only ludicrous to those who disagree with it...

Mike, Orlando, FL, USA

Seriously?

Jonathan, Tulsa, United States

While this story is interesting and a rare find from an amazing man, it is not mysterious or unusal, many artists do random sketching on working pieces. They are usually glimpses of thoughts at any given time or precursors to future paintings..just a thought from an artist..

Eric Frantz, PHILADELPHIA, USA

Hold on. People still believe in God?

jimmy jimmy, Paris, France

The Holy Grail or San Grail is supposed to be a Medieval 'type0', an error by a scribe. Instead of Holy or San Grail it has been proposed that it is actually Sang Real or Royal Blood. So, the reference wouldn't be to an object but to a blood line going back to Christ. But he didn't have any kids.

Josh, NYC, USA

Just doodles. No hidden message. As "Lili, Chicago" said in the first comment, any artist uses whatever surfaces are available. Just putting his ideas down in graphic form. Practice sketches for working out views or details. Draftsman do it all the time, as do carpenters, electricians, etc.

JAD, NYC,

This is mall beer, i found one of his sketches on the back of an Elvis photo that i bought at a car boot sale in Hastings.

A king knows a king when he sees one!!

Ted, Rye,

The Grail is said to have carried Jesus' blood, so it would not have been Mary's final resting place. Rather, it would have been her womb.

Jarett, Phoenix, USA

DaVinci was alive and present during the Last Supper? How else could he know all of this first hand. Oh wait, I guess it's one of his theories. DaVinci must have been a good salesman, since he's sold a lot of people today on it.

Craig, Sarasota, USA

Nothing amazing here, he started one drawing, didn't like it or had an idea for something else, flipped over the canvas and started to work.

Hojo, Virginia Beach, USA

I heard that if you put the Mona Lisa on a turntable and play it backwards it says "Leonardo is dead".

Matt, Detroit, USA

Is it so strange that some people have had information that has been lost to us now? Da Vinci was a master, and of course his knowledge was reflected in his works...

The current age is BY NO MEANS a golden age, rather a dark age, and much of the original knowledge has been lost or thwarted...

Sophia, Malmo, Sweden

Good grief Jim from Harrisburg, the article is about ART!!! Where do you find politics in this???

Tracy, Denver,

The Louvre should turn all their paintings around for one week each year. Then charge double admission.

Benny, Bloomfield, USA

I think it's proof that Da Vinci was not using a Xerox machine to lay out his paintings after all.

steve , kansas city, usa

jim from harrisburg: uh, so only liberals feel awe and wonder about art? no wonder all you can think about is politics. be careful for you what you wish for, one day we might not have art and we'll have a dull, gray, boring society that watches tv all day long. oh wait...

carl, Cambridge, MA, usa

The huge fuss that always surrounds something like the discovery of a minor sketch, or even a doodle, on the back of a Great Master's painting is a reflection of rarity, but also of the triviality and decadence of much art now. Incidentally, the Sistine Chapel was done by Michelangelo, not Leonardo.

Mark , San Francisco, USA

Leo doodled... and all of liberalism holds its
collective breath in awe and wonder...wouldn't be nice if they
got this excited over defending the country from terrorism?
but then that would be way to much to ask....sad isn't it......

jim, harrisburg,

His paintings contain "religious symbols?" Like, um, say, the Virgin and child?

Robert, Denver, USA

Da Vinci's Doodles. COOL!!

PAul, Louisville, USA

What's the big deal?? He sketched out ideas on a piece of wood which ended up being on the back of the painting. Why are the french in a "tizzy". God. How boring.

Debbie, fair oaks, CA, USA

I've got a dollar that says he was just doodling. .. another dollar thats says all the secret "messages" are people with too much time on their hands. Maybe.. someone told him what they wanted him to paint on the sistine chapel. maybe... he just really liked to draw...

leigha, riverside, us

It's amusing that so many Christians are getting so bent out of shape over "The DaVinci Code" and it's the furor they've created that have helped to make the book so popular. If anything they've had the opposite effect of what they intended; more people wonder if maybe Dan Brown WAS onto something.

Rob, Duluth, Georgia, USA

Da Vinci is not a name. It is an address. The artist is Leonardo. He is from Vinci.

Fr Jack Garvey, Yankton, SD,

"...but this has nothing to do with the Da Vincci code..."
Ok, but is there some connetion with Barack Obama or Tony Resco?????????????

mec, bellmead tx, USA

AC in Albuquerque, I'm a professional art historian who specializes in this period. When you've had to deal with as many tiresome and credulous queries about that "entertaining" book as my colleagues and I have, then you can tell us not to take ourselves "so seriously."

Lili, Chicago, USA

unbelievable. These were all mentioned in the 1953 book by Boris Belonov.

Mark, middlesbrough, England

John Kane, what we regard as surnames typically fall into just a few categories: from profession, from geographical origin, or from a parent's given name. So it would not be inconsistent to use Leonardo's place of origin as we use surnames, since that is how many modern surnames originated.

Kyle, Pewamo, United States

On the drawing with the horse head there are many faces around the head. One of them is next to the horse's right eye (viewer's left), a man with his mouth wide open, he's looking upwards. There is another face on the right side of the picture, and others.

Shaman Nora, Studio City, USA

Behind and slightly above Mary's left shoulder (viewer's right side) you will see the face of a being with a full ruffled collar. This being seems to be a man looking up, he has a long moustache, grey hair, strands of his head hair flop down around his forehead. There is a braided woman, too.

Shaman Nora, Studio City, USA

Its really just a sketch of the tattoo that he put on Mona Lisa's Arm. You can see it if you lift up her sleeve in the painting.

RMulier, NC, USA

Actually, the images are on the back of the painting, sketched on the wood planks Leonardo used to form the backing of this work, not hidden on the front. View the second image at the top of the article and you'll see the horse sketch. The other is a partial skull and an infant Jesus with a lamb.

Michael Cahill, Tunkhannock,

"Three near-invisible drawings discovered on back of Da Vinci masterpiece"

Should be "Leonardo masterpiece". "Da Vinci" is not Leonardo's family name. He didn't have one. Da Vinci means "from Vinci". It's like someone calling President Obama's government the "From Chicago administration".

John Kane, Ottawa, Canada

This is like Jesus on a piece of toast.

Here's what I see in these drawings: Key, look for the eyes.
Left: nothing
Center left side: Profile of an alien.
Center:mid to bottom, image of Obama.
Right: Pinnocchio right in the middle.

DaVinci, downright prophetic.

Rorschack, NY, USA

I also see a face that takes up the entire half of the image. Look at the lips just to the right of center, a little bit low, and work back from there.

Michael Trujillo, Albuquerque, USA

you all have way too much time on your hands insulting each other over this.

Tony, Reston, USA

I didn't know Leonardo DiCaprio could draw. These are good!

Higg, Cincinnati,

Maybe you didn't read the article, but this has nothing to do with the Da Vincci code...... Read a little harder next time instead of getting upset.....

Pete, Worcester, USA

I think this is charming. For once we have something without horror or violence in the news.

Jeanine, Atlanta,

For heaven's sake, I'm an artist also and let me tell you what we all do. We draw and sketch on anything available, including our canvases. Many more times than not, it is mindless renderings to pass the time. It's akin to a great singer humming while doing the laundry. There is no mystery here.

Win, Commack, USA

I don't know how you reached the conclusion about "one man and one woman" from the description must less the image provided. It is very likely that Da Vinci like Michelangelo was homosexual. And it's likely the skull was drawn over the image of Christ after the Christ drawing had been erased

James, Pittsburgh, USA

Am I the only person who doesn't see anything definitive in the photos?

Jon, Ontario, United States

Hey Lili...the Da Vinci Code was intended as entertainment, not a documentary ... don't take it or yourself so seriously.

AC, Albuquerque, USA

yea he meant to hide things that he knew were invisible unless someone created and infared light exposing the hidden spectrum....all this before the invention of the light bulb

chris, toledo,

They look like coffee stains to me.

Burke, New York, USA

The frescos in the Sistine Chapel mainly shows the growing interest in autopsy work, which was becoming popular at that time. That the artist included it in his work is not big "secret." From a religious perspective, that God-in-the-brain shows how one man & one woman was always part of God's plan

Dan, Columbia, USA

Pleazze, enough of this nonsense.

Gloria, Centralia, USA

Agreed!

Lynn, Milford, USA

The Da Vinci Code could not have explained the situation well. Ideas that he and Michelangelo were ardent believers of would baffle us if they made the light of day. His "God Creates Man" in the Sistine Chapel shows God dwellling in the brain, indicating a knowledge of the synapse/neuron connection.

Elliott, Austin, USA

There's nothing "strange" about the idea that a prolific draughtsman might use whatever is to hand to make a sketch. We don't have many paintings by Leonardo, but we have a very substantial number of drawings. Forget the ludicrous "Da Vinci Code."

Lili, Chicago, USA