In museums you can’t really peer into a painting as closely as you’d like. A red velvet cordon separates you from the work or a guard motions you back. When it comes to Rembrandt’s The Night Watch, however, you can now get so close you can count the pin-sharp particles of pigment. This zoom-in view of the great painting, produced by the Rijksmuseum and available for browsing on its Web site, is the most detailed photograph of any painting ever. Artificial intelligence was used to piece together a sum of 8,430 sections of the work—small photos 5.5 x 4.1 centimeters each—resulting in 717 billion pixels. According to the site, one pixel is smaller than a red blood cell! —E.C.
The Arts Intel Report
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
Rembrandt's Night Watch
Where
Available on the Rijksmuseum Web site
Etc
Operation “Night Watch” at the Rijksmuseum. Courtesy of the museum.
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Until Jan 19, 2025