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

Curator: Here we have an X-radiograph of "Madonna and Child," attributed to a follower of Pesellino. The Harvard Art Museums hold this rather unusual view of a Renaissance image. Editor: It looks so ghostly! The linear patterns almost obscure the figures, giving them an ethereal quality. What is it made of? Curator: Well, this isn't the artwork itself, of course. It's an X-ray, a kind of behind-the-scenes peek at the materials and techniques. We see lead white in the paint, revealing the artist’s process—how they built up the forms. Editor: So, it's less about the Madonna and Child iconography here, and more about the physical creation? The underpainting, the hidden layers of labor that construct our cultural ideas of motherhood and divinity. Curator: Precisely! It shows us the materiality that gives form to those ideas. The artist's hand, the pigments… Editor: It's like seeing the bones beneath the skin. Curator: In a way, yes. A glimpse into how this image came to be, through material and method. Editor: Fascinating. A reminder that even the most sacred images are constructed from earthly matter.