TIME TRAVEL

Gadget From the Present Spotted in Painting From the Past

A 1937 painting shows an Indigenous man in 17th-Century Massachusetts holding what appears to be a smartphone.

What looks to be a modern smartphone has been spotted in a nearly 90-year-old painting, sparking conspiracy theories about time travel. The 1937 painting, Mr. Pynchon and the Settling of Springfield, by Italian American muralist Umberto Romano, shows an Indigenous man in 17th-Century Massachusetts holding what appears to be a smartphone. The man is surrounded by other tribesmen and English colonists and appears to be taking a selfie with the hand-held gray reflective device. “iPhone in painting from 1937 JUST DISCOVERED???” One person commented on X. “Now that one actually looks like a cell phone,” another user reportedly posted. Historians say the object is likely a mirror, which was a common trade item in the American colonies. The man’s pose also looks like he is studying his reflection. The mural was one of six commissioned for the post office, funded by the Federal Arts Project. “Mr. Pynchon” was one of the founders of present-day Springfield.