Proof of Time Travel?19th Century Painting Seems to Show a Woman Using an iPhone- Or Is It?

Nhx T., Tech Times 17 November 2020, 05:11 am

Time travel, just like parallel worlds, is an idea that many scientists do consider, but a concept that hasn't been done in real life and is only apparent in science fiction, but sometimes, there is some "evidence" that will have you confused--at least for a minute or two.

Among these pieces of "evidence" is a 19th-century painting created by Austrian painter Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller.

A Woman Holding an iPhone?

According to Newsweek, the painting was entitled "The Expected One" and was created by Waldmüller in 1860 (although the gallery where it is in notes that it was made in 1850) showing a woman walking down a path in the woods and clutching something in both hands, with what people assume as an iPhone.

It has the same shape as an iPhone and practically the same size, plus the woman can be seen tilting her head down, something we are all familiar with when we're scrolling through our social media accounts or messaging someone on our smartphones.

Now, people saw the painting again, and this time, they are intrigued by the image.

Was the girl really holding a smartphone and was too engrossed in what she saw in her device that she was unable to see the young man hiding to give her a rose?

Debunking the Theory

Well, according to art experts, no.

"The girl in this Waldmüller painting is not playing with her new iPhone X, but is off to church holding a little prayer book in her hands," said Gerald Weinpolter to VICE, chief executive officer of austrian-paintings.at, which is an art agency.

Peter Russell, a retired Glasgow government official who occasionally writes about poetry and culture, has also commented on the painting and the iPhone theory.

"What strikes me most is how much a change in technology has changed the interpretation of the painting, and in a way has leveraged its entire context," Russell said to the news outlet.

The retired official further said that back in 1850 or 1860, when the painting was done, the people will quickly recognize that the young woman is holding a hymnal or a prayer book, but now, due to changes in technology, people will quickly assume it's a piece of gadget.

More 'Time Travel' in Artworks

This is not the first time people have gone crazy over artworks that have apparently shown proof of time travel.

Metro has compiled some of the most famous artworks where people saw bits of the future, but while some have remained a mystery, many have also been debunked by art experts.

For example, an ancient Greek statue called the "Grave Naiskos of an Enthroned Woman with an Attendant" shows a woman who people said was using a laptop, but according to Jeffrey Spier, the senior curator of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum where the statue is, the item is likely a hinged mirror or a jewelry box.

Another artwork is known as "Mr. Pynchon and the Settling of Springfield," which was painted in 1937, which apparently shows a Native Indian man holding a smartphone.