The iPhone was first released in 2007. Several hundred years earlier, in 1670, Pieter de Hooch painted Man Hands a Letter to a Woman in a Hall. Based on the laws of space and time, it stands to reason that there probably isn’t an iPhone in the painting. (It’s probably just a letter, you know, like the title implies.)
But that didn’t stop Tim Cook from doing a double take on a recent trip to Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, CNBC reports. “You know, I thought I knew until last night. Last night Neelie took me over to look at some Rembrandt and in one of the paintings I was so shocked. There was an iPhone in one of the paintings,” Cook told the audience at Startup Fest Europe, on Tuesday. In his defense, at first glance, the letter in the man’s hand does look kinda like a phone.
Cook quickly realized his mistake and laughed it off to the crowd. (I’m not trying to imply that the CEO of this multibillion-dollar company actually believes in time travel. That would be Elon Musk. I think.) But he wouldn’t be the first person to think ancient art held secrets about modern technology, lest you forget this YouTube truther who thinks there is a laptop hidden in Grave Naiskos of an Enthroned Woman With an Attendant, a marble carving dating back to 100 B.C.
