X-radiograph(s) of "St. Anthony" 

Curator: This is an X-radiograph of a painting called "St. Anthony" by Cosmè Tura, now residing at the Harvard Art Museums. The image quality seems deliberately obscured, or perhaps just old. Editor: It evokes a spectral quality, almost like a faded memory. It reveals hidden layers—literally—beneath the surface representation, hinting at unseen histories. Curator: Precisely. The composition, even in this ghostly form, retains Tura's command of line and volume. One can discern the saint's figure and the suggestion of drapery. Editor: I'm drawn to considering what’s being revealed here. What are we meant to see when the artist’s intended representation is stripped away? Does this change our interpretation of saintly representation? Curator: Perhaps the intent is not to alter interpretation, but to enrich our understanding of the painting as a material object, revealing its structural integrity. Editor: Perhaps. But I suspect these diagnostic visions invite us to contemplate the social and historical constructs embedded within its creation. Curator: Ultimately, it's a work that prompts a dialogue between material analysis and critical engagement. Editor: Exactly—illuminating both the seen and the unseen, the tangible and the conceptual.