One of many inimitable joys of visiting an artwork museum is with the ability to view work up shut—to see their textures, frames, and the way in which the floor interacts with the sunshine. However even in the event you had the chance to step previous safety wires and get inside inches of an authentic canvas, you’d nonetheless by no means be capable to see the work fairly like the brand new, 108-gigapixel scan of Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” (1665).
The Mauritshuis has documented its most well-known acquisition in unprecedented element with the assistance of lens firm Hirox, which has produced a video microscope able to capturing the tiniest speck of paint with astonishing readability. The outfit was additionally concerned in an earlier copy of the identical portray, creating a picture composed of 10 billion pixels.
This high-tech collaboration brings a Seventeenth-century masterpiece to life with an interactive web site inviting guests to look at each micro element. The brand new picture is greater than ten occasions as massive as its predecessor—108 gigapixels interprets to 108 billion pixels. A regular laptop display ranges from round 4 to 6 million pixels in its entirety. As Kottke notes, the decision could be very excessive, too, at 1.3 microns per pixel. (A millimeter is 1,000 microns.)
Hirox, in tandem with an organization known as Tuur, produced an exquisite video and digital tour. A 3-dimensional software for exploring the topography of the floor highlights Vermeer’s mastery of sunshine, like reflections within the sitter’s eyes, the folds of her head scarf, and the minimal dabs of white paint on the titular pearl.
This digital exploration affords artwork historians and lovers alike an opportunity to expertise “Girl with a Peal Earring” like by no means earlier than, no matter the place you might be. However in the event you’re in The Hague, it’s additionally on view within the everlasting assortment of The Mauritshuis.
