X-radiograph(s) of "Dan Waldo Junior" 

Editor: So, this is an X-radiograph of "Dan Waldo Junior," after a painting by Chester Harding, from the Harvard Art Museums. It's fascinating to see beneath the surface like this. What can we learn from this image? Curator: This x-ray reveals the unseen, not just of this particular portrait, but the very institutional framework that supports art history. Who decided to x-ray this painting, and why? Editor: So the process of examining it reflects the institution's values? Curator: Exactly! What questions were they hoping to answer? Conservation? Authentication? This image is as much about what we choose to reveal as it is about what Harding originally created. Editor: That's a new way to look at art—thinking about who gets to look and why. Curator: Precisely. The x-ray exposes not just the artist’s hand, but the institution’s agenda.