“Jacopo Tintoretto’s painting Nativity, in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, has long puzzled scholars because of its odd composition. As the museum reports, people wondered: “Why is only one of the major figures looking directly at the baby Jesus, who should be the center of attention in a nativity? Why does the woman at right have her arms flung out so dramatically, more a gesture of shock or alarm than joy? What is the old man above her looking at?” Could X-rays reveal the answers?”
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