X-radiograph(s) of "Portrait of a Man (copy)" 

Curator: Here we have an X-radiograph of "Portrait of a Man (copy)," after Anthony van Dyck, part of the Harvard Art Museums collection. It shows us what lies beneath the surface. Editor: It's ghostly, almost like looking at a hidden truth. The composition feels disrupted by the grid of the X-ray. Curator: Indeed. It allows us to see the artist’s process, the underpainting, the pentimenti—revealing revisions. What we see, or don’t see, is almost as revealing as what is rendered. Editor: Absolutely. It's a reminder that images carry layers of historical and personal stories, revealing power dynamics embedded within the act of portrayal itself. Curator: What's striking is that this reveals the human impulse to create and recreate, to attempt to capture something, even in a copy. Editor: It's fascinating how this X-ray strips away the surface glamour, exposing the raw materiality of artistic creation. Curator: Seeing a portrait dissected like this makes you think about the original subject, perhaps also a man who had to perform a particular identity. Editor: True, and how images always exist in dialogue with their historical moment. Curator: It definitely makes you think about how images can be deconstructed, recontextualized. Editor: A powerful reminder that seeing is never a neutral act.