A FAMOUS museum has released what it claims is the “largest and most detailed photograph of any artwork”.
You may recognise the painting in question as it’s a world renowned masterpiece.
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The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has released a super detialed scan of Rembrandt van Rijn’s 1642 masterpiece ‘The Night Watch’.
The 717 gigapixel image is free to view on the museum’s website.
It lets you look at the painting in a way that wouldn’t even be possible if you went to see it in person.
The only other way of viewing the painting like this would be pressing your nose up right against it and even then you’d need good eyesight.
The 12 by 14 foot painting is the focus of a research and restoration project called “Operation Night Watch.”
The detailed scan is part of that research.
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It’s actually made up of 8,439 individual photographs taken with a high-tech camera.
Artificial intelligence was used to help stitch the photos together and form one big image.
The Rijksmuseum said in a statement: “The Operation Night Watch research team has succeeded in making an extremely detailed photograph of The Night Watch.
“This 717 gigapixel image is available for viewing from today on the Rijksmuseum website at rijksmuseum.nl/Nightwatch.
“It is the largest and most detailed photograph of any artwork, and is four times sharper than its predecessor, which the Rijksmuseum published around 18 months ago.
“This means it is now possible to zoom in even further on minute, pin-sharp particles of pigment in The Night Watch.”
The scan lets you zoom in such intense detail that you can see cracks in the painting.
Each pixel in the scan shows just 5 micrometers of the original painting.
The Rijksmuseum website also has a version of the painting with its missing sides restored.
The painting had two sections stripped in 1715 so it could fit into Amsterdam’s City Hall.
It’s hoped the detailed scan will aid further research of the masterpiece and also help to document how it ages.
Robert Erdmann, senior scientist at the Rijksmuseum, said: “Making this image has been a great challenge.
“There were many people who thought it was impossible, and who thought the Operation Night Watch team were crazy to even attempt it.
“We have surpassed ourselves in what can justifiably be described as a world-class achievement.”
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