X-radiograph(s) of "Parable of Workers in the Vineyard" 

Curator: Here we have an X-radiograph of "Parable of Workers in the Vineyard," originally painted by Reynier van Gherwen, found at the Harvard Art Museums. It's 14 x 17. Quite ghostly, isn't it? Editor: Indeed! It looks like a landscape shrouded in mist, or perhaps a troubled dream. The figures are barely there, like archetypes or shadows. Curator: X-rays reveal the artist's process beneath the visible surface, the underpainting—a cultural palimpsest, if you will. These initial marks often carry profound, subconscious meaning. Editor: That's what's so moving. It's like seeing the soul of the painting, the initial intention before it hardened into form. What do you make of the composition? Curator: It's a complex arrangement. The obscured figures seem to converge towards a central point, perhaps alluding to a shared destiny or a common reward, echoing the parable itself. Editor: It certainly gives me something to chew on—like pondering the nature of artistic creation itself. Curator: A fitting meditation, I think.