An iPhone spotted by Apple CEO Tim Cook in a 350-year-old painting left the tech expert stumped and questioning the date of creation for his own device, sparking time travel conspiracies
The Pieter de Hooch painting stumped Apple CEO Tim Cook when he spotted what looked like an iPhone (Image: Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
People are convinced time travel is real after what appears to be an iPhone was spotted in a 350-year-old painting. It even stumped Apple’s CEO.
In Pieter de Hooch’s painting a bloke can be seen on the right appearing to hold a smart phone.
It left Apple CEO Tim Cook scratching his head, with the tech expert wondering whether he was right about the date of the device’s creation.
Cook had been asked about the painting in a press conference where he admitted he was “not so sure” the company had in fact created the phone.
Could this be evidence of time travel? (Image: Getty)
Cook said at the time: “I always thought I knew when the iPhone was invented, but now I’m not so sure anymore.”
He came face to face with the portrait while on a trip to Amsterdam, where he found De Hooch’s artwork 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.
Apple CEO Tim Cook was ‘not so sure’ his company had invented the device after seeing the painting (Image: Getty Images)
The name of the painting – Man Handing a Letter to a Woman in the Entrance Hall – would suggest Cook misinterpreted it.
It is not the first sighting of modern products in old art, with many doing a double take on a painting which seemingly featured Nike shoes long before they were invented.
The Daily Star previously reported the wild discovery, with an eagle-eyed mum pointing out the rather recognisable logo on the footwear in a 400-year-old painting.
She believes the boy “got his hands on the first pair of Nike trainers ever made”, that, or he is “actually a time traveller”.
