X-radiograph(s) of "St Roch Ministering to the Plague Victims (study after a painting in the Chiesa di San Rocco, Venice)" 

Editor: It's haunting, almost spectral. The X-radiograph renders Tintoretto's figures as if they're caught between worlds. Curator: Indeed. This is an X-radiograph of a study after Tintoretto's "St Roch Ministering to the Plague Victims," housed right here at the Harvard Art Museums. What strikes me is how this process strips away the color, leaving just the bare bones of the composition. Editor: And literally, the bare bones! You can see the density of the paint, where the artist layered it thickest. It's like looking at the labor itself, the application of the pigment, the gesture of the hand. Curator: It’s also an eerie reminder of the original subject: plague victims. The darkness, the starkness—it mirrors the suffering and the skeletal remains of those times. It's a dance of death, even in its creation. Editor: I find it strangely beautiful. The process reveals a hidden dimension of the painting, a behind-the-scenes peek at its materiality. Curator: A collaboration across time, you might say, with the artist and the X-ray technician both leaving their mark.