The painting Mr. Pynchon And The Settling Of Springfield was painted by Umberto Romano in 1937 and has not been altered since then. The image portrays English settler William Pynchon negotiating with natives in Springfield, Massachusetts, in the 17th century.
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In the lower right corner of the artwork, a man can be clearly seen holding what appears to be a smartphone close to his face.
He is even holding the object exactly as we do when scrolling through Twitter – fingers behind with the thumb in front of the screen to click on apps.
The mural, one in a series, is currently hanging in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Office Building in Springfield.
Unfortunately, the Italian artist Romano passed away in 1982, long before anyone had ever heard of the iPhone, which means we cannot simply ask him what the Native American is supposed to be holding.
According to the VICE website, the first mention of the man holding the supposed smartphone was made by writer and historian Daniel Crown in an essay about William Pynchon, and although it appears to be an iPhone, he assesses that it is something else.
