X-radiograph(s) of "Mrs. Joseph Blaney" 

Editor: Here we have an X-radiograph of "Mrs. Joseph Blaney" after Winthrop Chandler. It looks like a ghostly figure, almost like it’s been shattered. What can we learn from this unusual view? Curator: Considering this image through a materialist lens, the X-radiograph reveals the painting's physical structure, the artist's process, and potentially the social conditions of its creation. Editor: How so? Curator: We can analyze the support, the layering of paint, repairs, and alterations. These elements speak to the availability of materials, the artist's technique and perhaps the economic value placed on the artwork over time, or the value placed on the sitter. It makes us consider production of the image. Editor: That's a different way of seeing a portrait! Curator: Indeed, it moves us beyond just aesthetics.