Editor: This is an X-radiograph of "Pieta," attributed to the School of Jacopo Bassano the Elder. It's fascinating to see beneath the surface like this. What does looking at the materials and process this way reveal to you? Curator: It reveals the artist’s hand, the materiality of paint, and the labor involved. It also hints at the availability of resources at the time. What types of pigments were used? How does the canvas preparation inform its social context? Editor: That's a really interesting way to think about it. It makes me consider the economic factors involved in making art, not just the aesthetic ones. Curator: Precisely. By examining the means of production, we challenge the idea of art as purely aesthetic.