A painting from the 1800s has caused a buzz among internet users, with one man apparently left baffled after stating it could be depicting a woman holding an iPhone - despite the popular device having only been invented in 2007.
The Expected One - painted by Austrian artist Ferdinand George Waldmüller - shows a woman walking through nature, with a young man waiting for her in the foreground of the painting, holding a flower. In the painting, the woman can be seen looking down at an object in her hands.
Waldmüller's painting - which is currently on display in Munich, Germany - has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories, including that it supposedly shows a female time traveler scrolling on her iPhone.
One man who viewed the painting, Peter Russell from Glasgow, told Vice that he had made the bizarre observation after a trip to Germany with his wife, stating: "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."
"The big change is that in 1850 or 1860, every single viewer would have identified the item that the girl is absorbed in as a hymnal or prayer book," Russell explained.
He added: "Today, no one could fail to see the resemblance to the scene of a teenage girl absorbed in social media on their smartphone."
And it appeared that others have had to double-take, with one Twitter user joking (we hope): "This 1860 painting "The Expected One," painted by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller clearly depicts a time traveling woman holding her iPhone. It's amazing what kind of inspired vision artists can have."
A second asked their followers: "Do you see the young woman holding an iPhone in the 150-year-old painting by Ferdinand George Waldmüller 'The Expected One'?"
And another tweeted: "Time travel is real. She’s definitely holding an iPhone in this 1860 painting."
Though, many Twitter users were not impressed with the theory, with one person writing in response to a New York Post tweet about the painting: "This is what happens when the new generation cannot think outside their 'norm.' Has anyone seen the reaction when you tell the new generation there were days where there were no answering machines?"
"When the new generation can't tell what a book is, you know we're screwed as a society. Awesome," another added.
"I would've assumed it was a prayer book," someone else chimed in, "I'm baffled anybody would think it was an iPhone."
"Quite clearly a Nokia, probably still has some charge left," a further user quipped.
One tweet read: "Things like this make me laugh. Are they on Google or texting? I don't imagine a smart phone would have many uses 150 years ago. How has she charged it?"
These opinions were mirrored by Gerald Weinpolter, an 19th and 20th century art expert, who told Vice: "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."
Who knows, maybe the time-traveling woman did actually manage to go back in time with the latest iPhone to pose for Waldmüller's painting... Never say never!
