One of the inimitable pleasures of visiting an art museum is able to view paintings up close – to see their textures, frames and the way in which the surface interacts with the light. But even if you had the opportunity to step past security wires and get within a few centimeters of an original canvas, you could still never see the work like the new, 108 gigapixel scan by Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” (1665).
The Mauritshuis has documented its most famous acquisition in unprecedented details using Lens Company Hiroxwho has produced a video microscope that is able to catch the smallest piece of paint with amazing brightness. The outfit was also involved in an earlier reproduction of the same painting, creating an image that consists of 10 billion pixels.
This high-tech collaboration brings a 17th-century masterpiece to life with a interactive site Invite visitors to examine each micro details. The new image is more than ten times as large as its predecessor – 108 Gigapixels Translate to 108 billion pixels. A standard computer screen varies from around four to six million pixels in its entirety. When Kottke Comments, the resolution is also very high, with 1.3 micron per pixel. (A millimeter is 1,000 micron.)
Hirox, in combination with a company called Tuur, produced a beautiful video and virtual tour. A three -dimensional tool for exploring the topography of the surface emphasizes Vermeers mastery of light, such as reflections in the eyes of the babysitter, the folds of her main scar and the minimum cables of white paint on the titular pearl.
This virtual exploration offers art historians and enthusiasts both an opportunity to experience “Girl with a Peal Earring” as never before, regardless of where you are. But if you are in The Hague, it can also be seen in the permanent collection of the Mauritshuis.
