Is There a UFO in That Renaissance Painting? See 7 Historical Artworks That (Possibly) Depict Close Encounters With the Third Kind

Their evidence? Cave paintings, Nazca lines, prehistoric sculptures, and-for our purposes-art-historical paintings.

That some old masters depicted encounters with the third kind might be plainly in view for anyone looking closely to a few of their works.

Masolino da PanicaleThe Miracle of the Snow Masolino da Panicale, The Miracle of the Snow.

The Florentine painter created this altarpiece to commemorate the founding of Roman basilica Santa Maria Maggiore.

Legend has it that the church's site was chosen by the Virgin Mary herself, who caused snow to fall on that exact spot on the Esquiline Hill in the summer of 352-a scene rendered in Da Panicale's panel.

To some eyes Da Panicale's depiction of lenticular clouds looks akin to a fleet of alien spaceships, overseen by Jesus and Mary.

The reputation of this 15th-century painting, installed at the Palazzo Vecchio, is such that it is colloquially referred to as "Madonna dell'UFO." While portraying the Madonna with the infant Jesus and Saint John, Ghirlandaio chose to paint an odd blob in the sky to the right of Mary's shoulder, with the figures of a man and a dog looking on.

There's even speculation that Mary has positioned herself to shield the children, who, it seems, might not be the only celestial beings in frame.

Which turns the painting's depiction into less a meeting of good and evil, and more artistic proof that we're not alone.

Crivelli's luxuriously detailed work offers his artistic interpretation of the annunciation, the archangel Gabriel's announcement to Mary that she will soon bear the Christian messiah.

It's the kind of light, so say proponents, consistent with those reported in modern-day alien abductions, presenting fodder for the theory that Mary was, well, abducted and artificially inseminated by aliens.

De Gelder was one of Rembrandt's last pupils and his paintings of Biblical scenes bear the Dutch Master's heightened emotionalism.