X-radiograph(s) of "Virgin and Child" 

Editor: This is an X-radiograph of "Virgin and Child" after Hugo van der Goes. It's ghostly, almost like looking at the bones of the painting. What strikes you about its composition? Curator: The radiographic image invites a structural reading, doesn't it? Observe how the densities articulate a hierarchy. The Virgin's form establishes a dominant vertical axis, yet her bowed head suggests a yielding to the implied weight of the Christ Child. Editor: So the composition isn’t just about the arrangement, but about power dynamics, even in this technical image? Curator: Precisely. Consider the visual weight, the darks and lights forming an architecture of meaning. Do you perceive a tension between the revealed structure and the absent color? Editor: I do now. It makes me think about the layers of meaning in the original painting, and how much we can uncover even without seeing it directly. Curator: Indeed, the radiograph becomes a text in itself, ripe for decoding.