‘Girl With a Pearl Earring’ – Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer’s most-recognised artwork – was recently subjected to two years of detailed research which, while failing to shed light on the identity of the subject, has revealed all manner of hidden detail including eyelashes (only visible under a microscope) and the fact that the grey background is actually a green curtain.
The surface condition of the painting (which has been subject to multiple restorations over the years) was studied by researchers Emilien Leonhardt and Vincent Sabatier, of Hirox Europe using a custom-mounted microscope.
The resulting 10 billion pixel panoramic scan – a gigantic stitch of 9,100 individual microscopic photographs, is available here in 2D and 3D for your perusal.
