1860 Painting Of Woman Holding What Looks Like A Smartphone Stumps The Web
A painting by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller has left the internet with proverbial question marks over their heads in wonder of the smartphone-like object in its subject’s hands.
The piece, called The Expected One, depicts a woman walking through a country lane, her head bowed low. But it wasn’t the beautiful handiwork or the man hiding in the bushes that caught the eye of many; it was the creeping suspicion that she might be a time-traveler.
A variation of the painting that has been altered to show the illumination from a phone is also in circulation, adding to the confusion. Though, that would be unfathomable as the iPhone was not invented until 2007, and the lady in the picture was taking a stroll in 1860.
The expected one' ('La esperada') de Ferdinand George Waldmüller (1860). pic.twitter.com/85w3e8RztJ
— Carlos R. Cristóbal🔻 (@Crlos_Rodrigo) October 6, 2022
While the position her arms are in is highly reminiscent of the average distracted pedestrian caught up in doomscrolling (or taking her BeReal), art critics have a perfectly reasonable explanation for the illusion.
To clear the air, the CEO of the art agency austrian-paintings.at Gerald Weinpolter tells Motherboard that all the woman in the work is simply doing is reading a hymnal or prayer book.
"Die Erwartete" (The Expected One) by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Austrian painter, 1860. And as we can clearly tell, the young woman walking down the path is looking at her cellphone. Proof of time travel!
— Mary Anne Landers (@Mary_Anne_L) October 5, 2022
Just kidding. It's a prayer book.https://t.co/WvtKSOcBqp pic.twitter.com/XY7YaOCZ4i
The vision has stupefied internet users for years, including Peter Russel and his partner, who noticed the woman after coming across the painting at the Neue Pinakothek museum in Munich.
[via New York Post and News.com.au, cover image via Hajotthu, Wikimedia Commons]
