'iPhone' spotted in 350-year-old painting as Apple CEO admits he's surprised

11 June 2023 , 13:56

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A 17th century artwork by Dutch painter Pieter de Hooch has left some speculating over time travel (Image: Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

People claim they have found proof of time travel after spotting what looks like an iPhone in an 17th century painting.

The artwork by Dutch painter Pieter de Hooch, which shows a domestic scene against the backdrop of one of Amsterdam's canals, has even drawn the attention of Apple's CEO - who joked that his company may not have invented the gadget after all.

The supposed iPhone can be seen in the hands of a man standing to the right of the picture as he prepares to hand it to a woman sat down in a chair.

But the appearance of the object - which is a letter, according to the title of the painting - as well as the manner in which the man looks at it has seen countless conspiracy theorists speculate on its origin.

The painting is titled 'Man Handing a Letter to a Woman in the Entrance Hall', but some say it looks more like the Apple device (Getty)

The unusual iPhone lookalike in 'Man Handing a Letter to a Woman in the Entrance Hall' even left Apple CEO Tim Cook pondering the date of his device's creation, reports the Daily Star.

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Cook was asked about the painting in a press conference, where he admitted he was "not so sure" the company had in fact created the phone.

The successor to founder and iPhone inventor Steve Jobs said at the time: "I always thought I knew when the iPhone was invented, but now I’m not so sure anymore."

Apple CEO Tim Cook joked that the iPhone in the painting was 'tough to see' (Getty Images)

He recalled his own encounter with the portrait while on a trip to Amsterdam, where he found De Hooch's artwork hanging in the Rijksmuseum art gallery.

Cook said: "There was an iPhone in one of the paintings. It's tough to see but I swear it's there."

Whether or not De Hooch was actually dialling up and placing calls long before the invention of the iPhone, which first released in 2007, has left conspiracy theorists foaming at the mouth over the possibility of time travel.

It comes after another painting - this time from the early 20th century - also got people excited about a supposed cameo appearance from an iPhone,

The work - titled Mr Pynchon and the Settling of Springfield - was completed by Italian artist Umberto Romano in 1937 and depicts the arrival of settlers to the town in the 1620s.

A local is seen holding up a small, black rectangular object and looking directly at it, almost as if he was snapping a selfie.

The peculiar object has left viewers baffled, with some convinced it was an iPhone despite them not being invented until 2007.

Benedict Tetzlaff-Deas