Obscenely detailed 717 gigapixel scan lets you peer at Rembrandt’s Night Watch masterpiece online from the Rijksmuseum website

The Rijksmuseum has released what it claims is the “largest and most detailed photograph of any artwork,” and it’s viewable for free on its website. The scan is of Rembrandt van Rijn’s 1642 masterpiece The Night Watch, a roughly 12 by 14 foot painting which is currently the focus of a massive research and restoration project called “Operation Night Watch.”

The technical details of the scan are staggering. In a press release, the Rijksmuseum explains that it’s made up of 8,439 individual photographs taken with a 100 megapixel Hasselblad H6D 400 MS camera. Neural networks were reportedly used to check each image for colour and sharpness, and an AI system helped stitch these photos together into a single image.

Arguably, it’s an even better experience than seeing the painting in the flesh, since this software allows you to really press your nose up against it in a way that would get you thrown out of most museums.

See https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2022/1/11/22877951/rembrandt-night-watch-digital-gigapixel-scan

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