X-radiograph(s) of "Self-Portrait (copy)" 

Curator: This is an X-radiograph of a copy of Jacopo Tintoretto's "Self-Portrait," a 14 x 17 inch film held at the Harvard Art Museums. The copyist is unknown. Editor: The luminous quality is striking. It's like seeing a ghost in the machine, a face peering from behind a veil. Curator: Indeed, and what's revealed here is not just the face, but also the history of the painting itself; think about the layers of meaning, representation, and authorship at play in this work. Editor: The beard, in particular, is fascinating. Even in this X-ray, it retains a symbolic power, a visual shorthand for wisdom, experience, perhaps even defiance. Curator: Yes, and in Tintoretto's time, such images reinforced societal power structures. This copy then exists in dialogue with that power dynamic. Editor: It makes you wonder about the motivations and choices of the copyist—a kind of ghostly collaboration across time. Curator: Precisely. A reminder that art, even in reproduction, is deeply embedded in its social and historical moment. Editor: It urges one to reflect on the layers of interpretation inherent in art.