Debunked: iPhone in 350-year-old painting [Letter, Tim Cook was Joking, Obviously]

[endoplasmic_reticulum]

Tim Cook has claimed to discover an iPhone in a painting from the 17th century.

Tim Cook has made this 1670 painting go viral after spotting what looks like an iPhone in it. The Apple boss told a tech event in Amsterdam: "I always thought I knew when the iPhone was invented, but now I'm not so sure!"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/li...-the-unexplained-pictures-that-shouldnt-show/

Content from external source

http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/2016/05/apple-ceo-says-time-travelers-exist.html

Full Size image:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/..._to_a_woman_in_a_hall,_by_Pieter_de_Hooch.jpg

Detail, enhanced for contrast:

 

[Hevach]

Note that Tim Cook neglects to give the title of the work. The title pretty much debunks the matter: "Man Handing a Letter to a Woman in the Entrance Hall of a House" by Pieter de Hooch. It depicts a man handing a letter to a woman in the entrance hall of a house.


https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/SK-C-147


de Hooch is not known for subtlety of his titles. His other works include "Woman With a Child in a Pantry," depicting a woman and a child in a pantry, and "A Mother Delousing her Child's Hair" which appears to depict a mother delousing her child's hair.

 

[Trailspotter]

Also, the hand hold is wrong for an iPhone

 

[MyMatesBrainwashed]

A decent marketing strategy.

Free advertising across the internet and social media.

Dre's Beats found in cave paintings next.

 

[mm1145]

Also, the hand hold is wrong for an iPhone

yer he is going to get really bad signal holding it like that

 

[Hevach]

It's 1670, I doubt there's a signal to worry about.

However, he is pressing on the touch screen, meaning he'll be activating a touch+hold on whatever function, if any, happens to be there. With no grip on the sides (his first two fingers are against the back behind his thumb, and the others are folded down to his palm) he can't shift his thumb without completely changing his hold, meaning he won't be able to easily stop whatever he's activating and wouldn't be able to actively control the phone.

 

[NoParty]

While I just took Cook's remark as a silly (bad) joke,
De Hooch's "Man Handing a Letter to a Woman in the Entrance Hall of a House"
does seem to suggest that that is one thick-ass letter!!!

 

[Trailspotter]

(his first two fingers are against the back behind his thumb, and the others are folded down to his palm)

Actually, his ring and little fingers are not folded down but bent gently, like in a cupped hand. Try to reproduce the hold yourself

 

[Trailblazer]

While I just took Cook's remark as a silly (bad) joke,
De Hooch's "Man Handing a Letter to a Woman in the Entrance Hall of a House"
does seem to suggest that that is one thick-ass letter!!!

On a serious note, what form is this letter supposed to have? The shape of the bottom corner, the highlight on the top and the suggestion of an edge along the side facing the viewer do seem to indicate quite a thick object, not a thin envelope.

Edit: or is the angled part on the bottom corner next to his hand supposed to be the opened flap of an envelope, bent downwards, with the fold visible along the long edge? That still leaves the weird reflection along the top, which a thin envelope wouldn't have.

 

[Trailspotter]

On a serious note, what form is this letter supposed to have? The shape of the bottom corner, the highlight on the top and the suggestion of an edge along the side facing the viewer do seem to indicate quite a thick object, not a thin envelope.

I'd say the letter at that time could be a few sheets of a rather thick paper, folded upon themselves and sealed with wax. This would give it the appearance of a flat oblong box.

 

[Miss VocalCord]

I'd say the letter at that time could be a few sheets of a rather thick paper, folded upon themselves and sealed with wax. This would give it the appearance of a flat oblong box.

Yes, I agree. Didn't they also sometimes fold the letters in a specific way to ensure it wouldn't be read by others (just like the sealing with wax).
I think the letter looks pretty similar to these found a while ago:
http://www.livescience.com/52871-sealed-17th-century-letters-photos.html

 

[derwoodii]

perhaps its the iphone "user instruction manual" size and text position similar,, bah cant be nobody ever reads manuals

 

[Efftup]

perhaps he is distracting her with the iphone to give her a French letter. You can see from the expression n her face that this ruse has not worked

 

[Whitebeard]

While I just took Cook's remark as a silly (bad) joke,
De Hooch's "Man Handing a Letter to a Woman in the Entrance Hall of a House"
does seem to suggest that that is one thick-ass letter!!!

Could be a very long letter, back in my teens I had a German pen pal, and we used to write loooooong epistles to each other full of teen angst and other 'young adult' stuff, 10-12 sheets of A4, both sides, fold that down to fit in an envelope and you do indeed get 'thick assed letters'.

 

[Mick West]

I'd say the letter at that time could be a few sheets of a rather thick paper, folded upon themselves and sealed with wax. This would give it the appearance of a flat oblong box.

Or just a single sheet of thick paper, "Tuck and Seal" style:
http://blogs.helsinki.fi/kaislani/


You can kind of see the address in the painting

 

[deirdre]

"The Messenger" by Pieter Hooch.

seems that's how he paints letters.

 

[Ray Von Geezer]

The joke's on him, look at the corners, far too square to be an iPhone. It's clearly an Optimus L9.



Ray Von

 

[Gundersen]

..so a time-traveler went back in time to do some stuff, like documenting or changing history. He brought his phone and decided to pose for a few hours with it while the situation was painted. Or, was De Hooch like a paparazzi-painter, sneaking up on people and painting them? I just can't imagine this situation...