Masterpieces of Prado on Google Earth

[Erika Takacs]

This is incredible: now we can view 14 gigapixel images of 14 masterpieces of the Prado thanks to Google Earth (to be able to see it you'll need to download Google Earth)!
As of today only Velazquez's Las Meninas is available, but the next one will be available tomorrow, and so on.
You can see
ushstrokes, the tiniest cracks etc. Unbelievable. Watch the short video of how they did it.

http://maps.google.es/maps/mpl?moduleur ... term=prado

[Singular]

Wow! This is so cool. I don't know how I missed your post, but thanks.

Joe

[Erika Takacs]

Joe, I missed your reply too. Glad you liked it.

Did anyone else see it? You got to see this! These are some of the most well-known masterpieces and masters. You can see the tiniest detail,
ushstroke that you wouldn't be able to see even if you walked up to the painting.

I looked at the eyes mostly, to see the differences in style. It's a mind-boggling experience. Goya is able to depict the terror in the rebel's eyes with just a few carefully placed but random looking strokes. I was surprised to see Rafael painted some blue in the white of the eyes around the iris in his cardinal portrait. Is that what gives the portrait a cold intelligence? My favourite eyes were Dürer's. In his self-portrait he looks aristocratic but mysterious. His
ushstrokes are refined to perfection, but the eyes are painted in an asymmetric fashion. The two eyes seem to be looking in different directions, still gazing down on the viewer. Maybe that's what's giving the portrait that mysterious quality.

It's nice to see cutting edge technology doing a service to artlovers.

Let me know what you think, what you learned.

[Harmonygirl]

Holy cow. That is amazing. To see the material of dresses and actually be able to feel what the material was like. They are masters... oh my gosh, paintings aren't done like this now. So much detail in every part of the paintings.... and too, Erika, I did look at the eyes, the flash in the pupil isn't pure white.... interesting...
I am going to a better screen to look at these..

Thanks for the post, its awesome

[Erika Takacs]

Shan, they're old masters...it's not that contemporary artists don't have the skills...there's something that has been (temporarily?) lost...maybe these masters lived life on a much deeper level.