Internet Freaks Out After Spotting Native American Holding an iPhone in Italian Artist's 1937 Painting

Prediction has always remained a controversial subject. The methods used for forecasting have been criticised and analyzed time and time again. Despite most of these methods not having any validity associated with them, many times humans have been left dazzled by some of the 'predictions' that have come to life. The most popular one is possibly the string of prophecies done by The Simpsons. But another older art form has been discovered, which is predicting something that happened decades later, stated Indy100.

The art form in question here is a painting called Mr. Pynchon and the Settling of Springfield. The painting was made by an Italian artist named Umberto Romano back in 1937. The illustration essentially depicts William Pynchon, a colonist and founder of Springfield, Massachusetts, amidst the city's development. This painting has quickly garnered a ton of attention on Reddit because of how a Native American man has been drawn in it. It was upvoted around 400 times in r/AlternativeHistory.

The Native American man appears to be looking at something, which many people think seems to be an iPhone. The first iPhone was launched in 2007 by Steve Jobs, stated Seamgen. This implies that if the claim is true, then the painting was predicting the iPhone seven decades earlier than its creation. The painting is currently hanging in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Office Building (formerly the Central Post Office) in Springfield and is taken care of by the United States Postal Museum, stated Vice. It is loosely based on real-life events that supposedly happened between two native tribes, the Pocumtuc and Nipmuc, and English settlers during the 1630s. The painting is one of the four murals created by Romano to depict New England's history. 

The Reddit comment section was full of different takes on the painting. u/soraboutit believes that the man's expressions clearly indicated that he was looking at a post that had not garnered much love on the platform. They wrote, "Sure as hell does. Including the look on the guy's face, like he just saw his most recent post got downvoted into oblivion!" u/Fuzz_Puppet_Cartel did not join the popular bandwagon of predictions and stated, "It's probably one of those tablets they used to keep count of goods being sold or traded."

Apart from the phone, the main subject of the painting also generates a lot of intrigue, stated Vice. William Pynchon was the writer of The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption, a controversial creation which became the first book to be banned and eventually burned on American soil. Some researchers believe he was the forefather of another famous writer,  Thomas Pynchon, who, coincidentally, was born the same year the painting was made by Romano. Apparently, Thomas Pynchon did not have a positive mindset towards the advent of technology during his time. 

Romano's prediction does not end with Mr. Pynchon and the Settling of Springfield, stated Science Times. He painted another piece, which featured a woman operating something that looked like an iPad. The painting was named Worcester Mass.