X-radiograph(s) of "Male Portrait" 

Curator: This is an X-radiograph of a "Male Portrait" attributed to Hans Baldung Grien. The image provides an inside look at the materials and techniques of the original artwork. Editor: My first impression is ghostly. The grid laid over the veiled portrait almost feels like a window into the past, or a specimen slide. Curator: The X-ray reveals the artist's process. We see the density of the paint, pentimenti, the hidden history of creation, layer by layer. It is an index of its making. Editor: And what about the subject, the man depicted? Does the x-ray medium change how we perceive the symbols of masculinity embedded in his portrait? Does it humanize him, revealing an inner self? Curator: Perhaps, but I think it mainly demystifies the artistic process itself. It encourages us to consider the tangible elements involved in image creation, its material reality. Editor: I find it fascinating how this technology—X-ray—renders the familiar strange, and makes the invisible visible. It has altered my relationship to the subject. Curator: Indeed, a view into the hidden depths of image making.