I have a friend on Yahoo 360 who spends most of his time working hard.

His name is Michael Domoretsky, and he is the head of his own research group, investivating other hidden meanings he found in the artwork of Leonard Da Vinci.

He claims it has nothing to do with “The Da Vinci Code” movie. 

He just gave his first lecture and presentation recently before a crowd of 300 in Gloucester, MA.

He keeps me up to date with his fascintating work and I’m sharing this article with you.  – Laurita

If you have any questions for him, you can visit him at his Multiply site. He describes his research in more detail in his blogs. I’m sure he’d love to hear from you:   

 http://sketchmwd.multiply.com

From The Gloucester Daily Times

Published: January 09, 2008 11:31 pm    

Local Mason says he’s found secrets embedded in DaVinci’s paintings

Gail McCarthy/Staff Writer

Michael Domoretsky has spent the last four years studying the works of Leonardo da Vinci to uncover the secrets of the original Renaissance man.

Now he’s sharing those secrets with the world.

What Domoretsky has found, he says, is a “legacy of hidden messages” carefully concealed in some of the world’s most famous paintings and decipherable only to those who know how to read them.

Domoretsky, an Ipswich resident, gave his first public presentation on his research before a roomful of North Shore Masons at their lodge on Eastern Avenue in Gloucester on Tuesday night.

The venue was appropriate because Domoretsky believes the 15th century artist was a Mason who incorporated Masonic symbols, like the compass and square, into his works.

“The best place to hide something is in plain sight,” said Domoretsky, who is a Mason himself and works with stone as a self-employed installer of marble and granite countertops.

Domoretsky has had a lifelong interest in da Vinci. But his obsession with the master’s secrets was kindled when he came across an image of the “Mona Lisa” on a Web site about the movie “The Da Vinci Code.”

He’s quick to add, however, that he didn’t see the movie until long after he began his research, has never read the book and his work has no connection to the ideas presented by “Code” author Dan Brown.

Domoretsky said da Vinci was a master of optical illusion who created pictures within pictures within pictures — many of them designed to be visible only with the use of mirrors.

In the darkened hall, Domoretsky projected images of two paintings, “Mona Lisa” and “The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and the Infant Saint John the Baptist,” as they appear when mirrors are positioned to the right and left of the original artwork.

The resulting twinned images reveal hidden faces and objects and forms that include several chalices and what Domoretsky sees as a high priest of the Knights Templar, a Templar shield and cross and a sarcophagus.

The Knights Templar came into existence after the First Crusade of 1096 to protect European pilgrims en route to sacred sites in Jerusalem. The order was suppressed about 200 years later but, some believe, went underground and survived as a secret society.

Domoretsky believes da Vinci was “heavily involved in Freemasonry and the Knights Templar.”

Graham Noll of Groveland, who is part of Domoretsky’s da Vinci Project Research Group and assisted at Tuesday’s presentation, said the messages that the artist embedded in his work were intended for other initiates of the secret societies in which da Vinci was involved.

“The membership of craft and professional associations were given knowledge and ritual to protect, and da Vinci was obliged to pass on the information,” Noll said.

Domoretsky said to his knowledge, he is the first to use the mirror imaging to study Da Vinci’s work.

Scholars are skeptical of his findings — one critic, for example, questions why da Vinci would conceal the word “Mary” in the folds of the Mona Lisa’s clothing when the Italian for Mary is “Maria.”

“Anyone who claims to find something new is dismissed by the experts,” Domoretsky said. “We are misrepresented because some people don’t like what we say.”

Domoretsky remains undaunted and continues his research to decode da Vinci’s secrets and the meaning of messages he encrypted in his paintings. He plans to hit the road with the show he presented Tuesday in Gloucester.

Domoretsky, who also plans a book, has previously detailed some of his findings on his Web site, www.lionardofromvinci.com. (He believes the artist’s real first name was Lionardo, not Leonardo.)

Dana Andrus, master of the Tyrian-Ashler-Acacia Masonic Lodge in Gloucester, said Masons he talked with after the presentation were intrigued by Domoretsky’s work.

“I think he is somewhat of a visionary,” Andrus said. “He used da Vinci’s own insight to look at the paintings. That’s someone who has taken a great deal of time and thought, and not listened to the conventional wisdom, and come up with a new idea on how to approach something.”

Michael Domoretsky and Graham Noll gave a presentation on their findings of hidden images in the work of Leonardo da Vinci at their first public presentation of their work with Domoretsky’s The da Vinci Project Research Group. Domoretsky explained how perpendicular mirror imaging, which he read from Da Vinci’s own notes, revealed various symbols when put together.

delete reply sanssouciblogs wrote on Jan 11, ’08 Interesting! I too was a little put off by the Mary/Maria thing. He had a response for that, forgot what it was.

edit delete reply lauritasita wrote on Jan 11, ’08 As Dr. Spock from Star Trek said, “Fascinating.”

delete reply starfishred wrote on Jan 11, ’08 really really interesting and me beign a realist don’t believe in the decinci thing but it makes a good movie thanks lauritasita great blog

edit delete reply lauritasita wrote on Jan 11, ’08 Please check his website. You’ll find he’s quite an interesting fellow.

delete reply sketchmwd wrote on Jan 12, ’08 From a probability professor: Jan. 1/08 TO: The da Vinci Project Research Group http://www.lionardofromvinci.com/We searched a minimum of over 5000 paintings of the period and were unable to locate any use of the Perpendicular Mirror Process outside Leonardo da Vinci’s works. We have identified a minimum of 20 images within the “Virgin and child with St. Anne and the infant St. John” that are readily accepted by almost 100% of the people who view those specific discoveries. We asked a probability expert form a proper hypothesis and to do a calculation relative to the probability of the discoveries being random or coincidental based on these facts.His answer is: We’ll assume that the chances of a random event occurring in a painting of that era are less than 1 in 5000 since you couldn’t find any in that many trials(i.e. looks at paintings). Now suppose you find, say 20, such events (i.e. images) in one painting. The odds of this occurring independently by chance are less than (1/5000) ^20=10^ (-74) =1 divided by 10 raised to the power of 74 which is essentially 0. Thus it’s virtually impossible to find 20 images by coincidence.

Comment deleted at the request of the author.

edit delete reply lauritasita wrote on Jan 12, ’08 Michael, you’re here !!! This is incredible work.

delete reply redheadgirl4 wrote on Jan 12, ’08 A very interesting blog. This is a topic I don’t know much about, although it doesn’t sound far-fetched that da Vinci, or any other artist, might put messages in a painting. If nothing else, it is interesting to see how da Vinci’s works continue to inspire such interest! And people do get rather riled up on the subject, but I find it all fascinating. Great blog!

edit delete reply lauritasita wrote on Jan 12, ’08 Don’t forget to visit his site! He explains this much better than I ever would, LOL!!!