Bizarre ‘smartphone’ conspiracy targets 1937 painting

A nearly 90-year-old painting, 'Mr. Pynchon and the Settling of Springfield' by Umberto Romano, has generated online buzz with a conspiracy theory that an indigenous man in the artwork is holding a contemporary smartphone.

• The painting 'Mr. Pynchon and the Settling of Springfield' was created in 1937.
• The artwork depicts a scene from 17th-century Springfield.
• An indigenous man in the painting is the focus of a conspiracy theory.
• The theory claims the man is holding a smartphone.
• Mirrors were common trade items in 17th-century American colonies.

The painting depicts the indigenous man alongside other tribesmen and early English colonists in 17th-century Springfield, part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.