X-radiograph(s) of "Crucifixion" 

Curator: We're looking at an X-radiograph of "Crucifixion," originally by Peter Paul Rubens, currently held in the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It's ghostly. The skeletal framework of Rubens's painting is eerily present, the lead white shining through. Curator: The X-ray unveils the painting's layered construction. We can see the underpainting and preparatory sketches. Editor: It speaks volumes about the physical effort involved—the layering of materials, the artist's hand, and the socio-economic structure that produced it. Curator: Indeed. It offers insight into Rubens's formal compositional process. Editor: This radiograph allows one to see how artistic creation is an act of material transformation, and also how the finished picture, as an object, has its own life, different from the initial concept.