Portrait of Robert Burns contains secret Masonic symbols, reveals expert
Specialist Jerry Brannigan noticed the tiny marks on a picture of The Bard after it was cleaned up
MASONIC symbols "hidden" in a portait of Robert Burns have been uncovered for the first time.
The tiny signs, which are invisible to the naked eye, were found painted into a picture of the Bard and include including a comet and a series of letters.
Burns expert Jerry Brannigan spent two years examining the painting after its owner discovered writing on it when they had it professionally cleaned.
And Jerry, who wrote a book about Scotland’s most famous poet, described it as “the Da Vinci Code for paintings” and said artist Alexander Naysmyth may have added the markings “for a bit of fun”.
He said: “Nothing is there by accident. There is a Masonic saying of ‘hidden in plain sight’.
“It is very true as things are kind of hidden right in front of you.
“Some of these letters are only one millimetre high — they would have been done with the strongest magnifying glass he could get and a brush with one hair.”
Jerry said Naysmith and Burns were both high-ranking Masons and may have visited the Rosslyn Chapel together which later became famous for its links to Freemasonry in Dan Brown’s best-seller The Da Vinci Code.
To uncover the symbols, he scrutinised photographs of different signs and found a representation of a comet over Burns’s shoulder, a cluster of numbers on his forehead and the letters "m a r a" on the side of his head.
Jerry said the numbers and letters on the poet’s face and head could have been used to indicate his status as a Royal Arch Mason, while the comet could be interpreted as a symbol of the Masonic Blazing Star.
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He added: “I sometimes wonder why Naysmith would do all this — it is all very well putting a mark on the painting to identify it in case copies come along.
“I think somethings he is just putting so much detail into paintings that he is going it for a bit of fun.”
The painting — known as the Shaw — is on display at Dumfries House in Cumnock, Ayrshire, on loan from the private owner.
It is believed to be the fourth version of Naysmyth’s portrait, with the other versions hanging in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow and London’s National Portrait Gallery.
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