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

Curator: This image is an X-radiograph of Rembrandt van Rijn’s "Portrait of a Man," currently held at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: Ghostly! It has this amazing layered effect, like glimpsing a soul through a veil of paint and process. Curator: Absolutely, this X-ray really gets at process, stripping away the surface to reveal the underlayers. We can see the artist's hand, the buildup of material, the very bones of the artwork itself. Editor: It's like a material resurrection. It makes you think about all the unseen labor and experimentation that goes into creating a single portrait. I feel oddly moved. Curator: Exactly. We begin to understand art isn't just image, but a constructed object, built up through labor and intention. Editor: It's strangely beautiful too—a new way of looking at Rembrandt, isn't it? Curator: I think you're right. There's a powerful reminder here of the artistry inherent in the materials themselves.