The mystery behind a 350-year-old painting appearing to show somebody 'holding an iPhone' has been solved. Now, I'm sure many of us have seen the Back To The Future trilogy and can remember the scene where Doc and Marty pose for a photo with the new/old town clock after traveling back to 1885. Of course, this would never happen in real life, as time travel is simply a thing of science fiction right now. Nevertheless, that hasn't stopped some people from wondering if time travel really does exist after believing to have spotted an "iPhone" in a 350-year-old painting by artist Pieter de Hooch. Now, upon first glance, you can see why the painting has caused such a such on social media, as - with today's modern lens - the small rectangular-shaped item in the man's hand could look like a smartphone. <img class="wp-image-1263215706 size-full" src="https://img.vt.co/2023/06/GettyImages-463917023.jpg" alt="Does this 350-year-old painting show an a man holding an iPhone? " width="876" height="1024" />[[imagecaption|| De Hooch's 1670 painting. Credit: Print Collector / Getty]] The painting had even stumped Apple CEO Tim Cook, with the <a href="https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/time-travel-proof-iphone-spotted-30205962">Daily Star</a> reporting that the tech boss was packed about the artwork during a press conference. Cook joked that he was "not so sure" that Apple was the first company to invent the iPhone, telling reporters: "I always thought I knew when the iPhone was invented, but now I’m not so sure anymore." The tech genius first laid eyes on the painting while on a trip to the Rijksmuseum art gallery in Amsterdam, Holland. Speaking about De Hooch's artwork, Cook said: "There was an iPhone in one of the paintings. It's tough to see but I swear it's there." And Twitter was equally as excited about the prospect of a "time traveler" being captured by the 17th century artist, with one person tweeting: "A 350-year old painting, by Pieter de Hooch... and the woman clearly has an iPhone... Spooky!" [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/hammer_museum/status/738515633864908801]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/brightsuit/status/1442778146554761219]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/CBKNEWS121/status/1619760155440316416]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/Lesism/status/735506735574704129]] However, the truth behind the image really is anything but "spooky". Yes, despite even the brilliant mind of Tim Cook being stumped, the true answer lies in the name of the painting, which is: "Man hands a letter to a woman in a hall." Which proves two things; the first being that some artists were a lot less creative with the names of their pieces back in the old days. And the second being that modern-day society has reached a point where we rely so much on smart tech each and every day that now a simple letter can throw social media users into a tizz. For more artistic confusion, check out <a href="https://vt.co/news/entertainment-news/17th-century-photo-of-boy-wearing-nike-trainers-is-proof-of-time-travel">this 17th-century painting</a> that people were convinced shows a boy in Nike sneakers! <h6>Featured image credit: Print Collector / Getty</h6>

Mystery of 350-year-old painting showing an 'iPhone' that stumped Apple CEO is solved

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