In paintings of the Madonna with the Christ Child, why is Jesus sometimes clutching a goldfinch? Why does a peacock often appear in paintings of the Annunciation? Why was Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt? Past generations would have known the answers, with religious belief and the mythology of antiquity so permeating people’s lives that decoding symbols within a painting came automatically. Today, we no longer have the background knowledge to decipher the layers of meaning contained in some of the greatest works of art. Our gaze is so superficial that recent research has shown that on average a visitor to an art gallery looks at a painting for less than two seconds, reads the label for ten seconds, glances again at the painting then moves on. Even the Mona Lisa merits no more than fifteen seconds of a viewer’s attention – if you can get close enough. Encouraging viewers to look more deeply into pictures and to understand better what they see, Painted Mysteries dissects over 100 images, recounting the stories the artists were depicting and unravelling the layers of meaning that modern viewers may find elusive or mysterious.