Google Earth brings some high culture to everyone's favorite virtual touring site. Google and Spain's Prado Museum have teamed up to put 14 masterpieces, including Francisco de Goya's "Third of May," online in high-resolution detail.
Long a satisfactory procrastination aid at work, school or home, Google Earth allows users to soar above cities and countries, oceans and deserts. Now, Google is teaming up with Spain’s Prado Museum to bring armchair tourists access to 14 of Spain’s most treasured works of art, including works by Francisco de Goya, Diego Velázquez and Hieronymus Bosch—all in stunningly high-resolution detail.
Google Earth’s technology allows users to get close enough to examine a painter's brushstrokes or the craquelure (small cracks) on the varnish of a painting. The images of these works are about 14,000 million pixels, 1,400 times more detailed than the image a 10-megapixel digital camera would take. "There is no better way to pay tribute to the great masters of the history of art than to universalize knowledge of their works using optimum conditions," Prado Director Miguel Zugaza told the Associated Press.
While crowded galleries and long lines can make visiting a museum a hassle for some, does the ability to zoom in on microscopic details that even the naked eye can’t see provide an equally fulfilling experience? Clara Rivera, the brainchild of the collaboration, says no. "There is nothing comparable to standing before any of these paintings, but this offers a complementary view," Rivera told the AP. "Normally you have to stand a good distance away from these works, but this offers you the chance to see details that you could only see from a big ladder placed right beside them." (full Story)
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