A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: ART AND TECHNOLOGY GO HAND-IN-HAND

Posted July 17th, 2009 by admin

With one of the world’s finest collections of the 12th to 19th century European art, including Spanish, Italian and Dutch masters, Madrid’s Museo del Prado is a veritable treasure trove for an art lover.

One of its pieces de resistances (translation: a prized piece) is Diego Velazquez’s Las Meninas (Maids of Honor), painted in 1656 in a Baroque style, an opulent and effusive art form popular in Europe at that time.

The painting’s painstaking detail is worth seeing, and now you can have an up-close-and-personal glimpse of the masterpiece without leaving your home.

No, we are not talking about a “beam me up, Scotty” teleportation experiment. In fact, the only science at work here is Google Earth, a virtual globe, map and geographic information program that is easily accessible to any computer user (www.google.com/intl/en/landing/prado).

This cool feature allows you to see not only Las Meninas, but also 13 other of Prado’s masterpieces painted by Goya, Bosch, Rubens, Titian, El Greco and Rembrandt.

With a resolution of 14,000 megapixels - 1,400 times more than a photo taken with a standard 10 megapixel camera - Google Earth’s technology makes it possible to get closer to the paintings and get a more detailed view than you’d be able to in the museum. You can actually see the brushstrokes and other details invisible to a naked eye.

Of course, nothing can replace the sheer pleasure of seeing a masterpiece in a museum or an art gallery in person. That’s because no technology can convey a painting’s real colors, tones, luminosity, and that ethereal quality called the “soul.”

But if a visit to Madrid is not on your to-do list, you can still enjoy a night (or a day, for that matter) in a world-class museum and explore some truly unique masterpieces.

Think about it this way: if you can’t go to where the art is, make the art come to you! 8s7axv5tyz