X-radiograph(s) of "Madonna and Child" 

Curator: What a fascinating image! Here we have an X-radiograph of "Madonna and Child" after Raphael, housed right here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: My first impression is one of disintegration; the forms feel obscured, almost ghostly. What’s left is a stark pattern of light and shadow. Curator: An X-radiograph reveals the underlayers of the painting. The Madonna and Child are powerful archetypes, and even veiled by the X-ray, these symbols of motherhood and divinity persist. Editor: Precisely. The composition is disrupted, but those remnants reveal the painting's structure. We glimpse the artist's process, their building of forms. It’s a deconstruction, really. Curator: Yes, it’s as if we are seeing the past informing the present, the cultural memory embedded within the image itself—a palimpsest of meaning. Editor: I agree; the work offers an intense study of the artwork, even though it may not be what the artist intended. Curator: It certainly provides a unique insight into Raphael's enduring influence. Editor: Indeed, the disintegration shows just how much time affects our idea of artwork.