after two years of study, the mauritshuis de hague museum revealed a panorama of 10 billion pixels of vermeer Girl with a Pearl Earring. led by emilien leonhardt and vincent sabatier of hirox europa, the project was able to create an image with an incredible resolution that allows people to see the painting in details of 4.4 microns per pixel. the project, which assesses the surface condition of the work, brought to light other discoveries that until then were unknown.
using the 3D hirox digital microscope, the team was able to capture an image of the artwork that allows it to enlarge its surface, enlarging it up to 700 times – something that was only possible after the girl was removed from the frame. to create this, the team placed the painting horizontally on a table while the microscope scanned the entire surface of a motorized support above it. this generated a panoramic image of 20 billion pixels with 35x magnification. then they took 140x close-ups, resulting in incredible scans of these details in 3D.
Thanks to these macro X-ray fluorescence scans, the researchers also found that Vermeer painted eyelashes on the girl, which contradicts the previous belief that they were left out to indicate an idealized face. tHe was also able to identify the pigments he used, which included white lead from northern England, ultramarine blue lapis lazuli from Afghanistan and cochineal red made from insects from Mexico.
‘the amount of high-quality overseas vermeer used in the girl’s head scarf is amazing’ comments from the conservative of mauritshuis and project leader abbie vandivere. ‘this blue pigment was more valuable than gold in the 17th century.’
‘the fact that it is still a mystery keeps people coming back and keeps it lively and fresh,’ vandivere continues. ‘it is good that some mysteries remain and everyone can speculate about it. allows people their own personal interpretation of the girl. everyone feels their own connection with the way she meets their eyes. ‘