X-radiograph(s) of "Crucifixion" Possibly 26 - 49

Curator: This is an X-radiograph of “Crucifixion,” an artwork by Guariento di Arpo, currently residing at the Harvard Art Museums. The film itself is about 8 by 10 inches. Editor: Eerie. It’s like looking beneath the surface, past the veneer of the visible. I see ghosts of forms, suggestive of deep secrets. Curator: Absolutely. The X-radiograph reveals the hidden layers, the very bones of the painting, its construction. We see the materiality, the process of its creation. Editor: And the iconography is still potent, even in this skeletal rendering. The stark image evokes sacrifice, loss, but also a kind of stark, enduring truth. Curator: The image challenges us to consider the labor and materials involved in creating sacred art, exposing the material processes behind spiritual iconography. Editor: The enduring power of the crucifixion image persists, even stripped bare to its elemental forms. Curator: Indeed. A potent reminder of the complex relationship between the visible and invisible, the sacred and the profane. Editor: Food for thought, seeing through surfaces like this.