© Nikkie Curtis
What started out as a leisurely stroll through the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Nov. 11 with his girlfriend, quickly turned into quite a surreal experience for Max Galuppo, 20, of Bloomsbury, N.J.
Galuppo, a Temple University student, found his doppelganger in a 16th century Italian painting by an unknown artist titled "Portrait of a Nobleman with Dueling Gauntlet."
"It was really weird. He goes to Temple so we'd been saying for a while we wanted to go to the art museum," his girlfriend, Nikkie Curtis, told ABCNews.com. "We went into the armor exhibit and he loved the helmets. He was completely oblivious to it, and I walked past it and was like, 'Do you see this painting right now? It looks just like you.'"
Although Galuppo's resemblance to the dark haired, huskily built, bearded face seems obvious to the 735 Reddit users who have
commented on the photo since Curtis uploaded it to the site late Sunday night, Galuppo, at first, said he failed to recognize the similarity.
"To be honest, I didn't see it. I didn't see the resemblance," Galuppo said. "And then I saw the picture of me next to it, and you can't deny that."
The couple had no idea the photo would garner so much attention, but is enjoying the humor people are getting out of it. Galuppo has even been propositioned to pose with the portrait, painted in 1562, again, in full matching attire.
