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 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.”

Gail McCarthy writes for the Gloucester Daily Times of Gloucester, Mass. E-mail her at gmcarthy@ecnnews.com