Viral painting of time-traveling woman 'holding an iPhone' from 150 years ago has been explained

This painting may make you double-take, as the 19th-century artwork looks like a time-traveling woman is quite literally holding an iPhone.

It all dates way back to 1860 when Austrian artist Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller put oil on canvas.

However, the painting provides somewhat of a mystery with the inclusion of an object looking a lot like an Apple product.

One man spotted the painting on a trip, and since then, countless theories have been added as to what the painting really shows.

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This 1860 painting contains a woman looking at an iPhone

The humble iPhone is the best invention to come out of 2007, but some people have spotted it appearing 147 years before the phone even existed.

Let us take you back to 1860, when The Expected One was created by artist Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller. Because it contains a striking detail.

The painting is of a woman walking through a woodland on a dirt path, but her attention is captivated by something she’s holding in her hands.

The small, black, rectangular object is held close to her chest, and her eyes are fixated on it, as a man kneels before her.

The object, however, looks remarkably like an iPhone in her hands, and the time-traveling woman sent people into a frenzy online.

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Time-traveling woman or optical illusion?

The illusion of the time-traveling woman ‘holding an iPhone’ was spotted by Peter Russell, a retired Glasgow government officer, after he saw the painting on holiday.

The painting really does seem to depict people’s actions of the 21st century, ever consumed by their mobile phones, unaware of their surroundings.

Speaking to Vice, Russell explained his thoughts on the context of the time-traveling woman painting, decades after it was first painted.

“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,” he said.

Although it’s a nice idea that the iPhone appeared over a century before it even appeared in the mind of Steve Jobs. But, sadly, the object isn’t an iPhone after all.

“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,” Gerald Weinpolter, CEO of the art agency Gerald Weinpolter, told Vice.

You have to admit, the time-traveling woman does look like she’s holding a shiny smartphone in her bare hands, but when common sense and general knowledge come into play, the reality is vastly different.

Russell explained further that, in current times, many people would instantly assume that the woman was browsing Instagram or maybe even TikTok.

But back in the 1800s, a hymn or prayer book in her hands would be the general consensus.

So, time travel wasn’t quite depicted in this situation; however, stranger things have been known to occur.

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