X-radiograph(s) of "Portrait of a Boy" 

Editor: This is an X-radiograph of Ralph Earl's "Portrait of a Boy," currently housed in the Harvard Art Museums. It's quite unsettling, almost like looking at a ghost trapped in a web. What symbols or hidden meanings do you think are revealed through this process? Curator: This image, beyond its aesthetic, reveals the underpainting. It represents time and memory. The grid-like overlay, suggestive of a fragmented reality or a veiled past, acts as a lens through which we glimpse the original intent, a cultural memory made visible. Do you see how the x-ray unveils layers both literal and metaphorical? Editor: I do, seeing through the surface shows more than what’s visible, and makes me rethink how we perceive portraits. Curator: Precisely, altering my understanding of the work too.