Art enthusiasts around the world believe that a 350-year-old painting proves time traveling. The artwork, painted by Pieter De Hooch in 1670, during the Dutch Golden Age, displays what a man is holding a smartphone.
The artwork is given the name “Young Woman with a Letter and a Messenger in an Interior” and was created in 1670. It shows a young lady sitting in a vestibule as a man brings her a ‘letter’. There are two dogs, one sitting on the lady’s lap and another standing on the left. Also, the artwork features a child in the corridor.
But the “letter”, the man in the painting is holding, appears to be a smartphone. The theory began circulating as the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, asserted that he had noticed the man holding a device looking similar to a smartphone. He noticed the painting when he visited a museum in Amsterdam in 2016.
As per Ladbible, when Cook met Neelie Kroes, former European Commissioner, at The Start-up Fest, Kroes asked, “Do you happen to know Tim, when and where the iPhone was invented?”. Cook answered, “You know, I thought I knew until last night. Last night Neelie took me over to some Rembrandt and in one of the paintings, I was so shocked. It’s tough to see but I swear it’s there. I always thought I knew when the iPhone was invented, but now I’m not so sure anymore”.
Hooch is known for the interior scenes he paints and the exquisite use of light. His work, as a student of Delft School, is much like the work, in style and subject matter, of Johannes Vermeer, a fellow student of Delft. Though Hooch painted open-air scenes, his typical style features two or three figures doing chores in an elegant interior. The stillness of the art is overwhelmed by the bright outdoor light illuminating the scene.
