'Time-traveller' woman in 150-year-old painting appears to be using an iPhone

Art enthusiasts have been left scratching their heads over a 150-year-old painting. The confusion has hit new heights after its main subject appears to be engrossed in what looks like an iPhone.

The artwork, titled 'The Expected One' and painted by Ferdinand George Waldmuller in the 1860s and was very much of its era. However, has gained a new perspective with contemporary viewers suggesting its subject - a walking woman - is absorbed in a modern-day device, reports the Mirror.

In the scene, the woman strides forward, apparently oblivious to her surroundings while apparently on an iPhone. She is seen walking towards a man who waits in the foreground holding a flower.

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The painting became an internet sensation back in 2017 when it was displayed at the Neue Pinakothek Museum in Munich, Germany, after the supposed iPhone was spotted by art lovers. It sparked humorous suggestions online that she was too busy swiping on dating app Tinder to notice the man.

However, the reality is less fantastical; the museum explains that the woman is actually concentrating on a hymn book, indicating her spiritual focus rather than interest in the man's romantic gesture. This revelation from the gallery may come as a surprise to those who fancied the idea of a time-travelling twist in the artwork.

Peter Russell, the observer who first noted the resemblance to a smartphone user browsing Instagram, told Motherboard: "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. Today, no one could fail to see the resemblance to the scene of a teenage girl absorbed in social media on their smartphone."