Gaze in wonder at this surprisingly high-resolution scan of an iconic painting

For the past hour, I’ve been avoiding work by browsing this incredibly high-resolution scan of the iconic Johannes Vermeer a girl with an earring. With a total resolution of 93205 x 108,565, PetaPixel notes that the scan is considered the first 10 billion pixel panorama ever created, allowing you to zoom in close enough to turn even the smallest paint stains into puddles and tiny cracks into crevices. The analysis appears to have been posted online at the beginning of last year.

The Mauritshuis Gallery, which normally houses the work, recently had to temporarily close due to COVID restrictions. But for now, this scan is a good replacement. In some ways it’s actually better, letting you press your virtual nose against the paint in a way that would at least get you kicked out of most art galleries or scolded by an angry assistant. .

The digitization is the work of Emilien Leonhardt and Vincent Sabatier of Hirox, who photographed the painting using a high-resolution microscope in March 2018. The digitization of the painting involved taking approximately 9,100 photographs at l using a high resolution microscope before assembling them. The resulting scan allowed the team to assess his condition, learn more about Vermeer’s painting technique, and understand the work’s past restorations. You can read more about the scanning process in the short Hirox video posted below:

The 2D image is one thing, but where things get especially interesting is with the 3D scans, which cover 10 specific areas of the painting like the subject’s eyes and the iconic earring. These scans allow you to look at sections of the painting from any angle and see that its apparent flat surface is anything but, thanks to the dried layers of paint that make up the painting. There’s even a small virtual light that you can drag inside the program to see how these surface imperfections cast a shadow over their surrounding area.

For more on what these scans and other technical research show about this painting, check out this blog post from the Mauritshuis last year. Meanwhile, the rest of the museum has also been digitized, with 36 masterpieces available to view in detail.