This 717 gigapixel photograph of The Night Watch is viewable online for free

[Shawn Knight]

Brief history: The 1642 painting was done by Rembrandt van Rijn. It has been moved a few times – at the onset of World War II, for example, and again in 2003 when the museum was refurbished – but otherwise, has remained on display at the Rijksmuseum since 1885.

The Rijksmuseum, an arts and history museum in Amsterdam, has published an incredibly detailed photograph of The Night Watch boasting a resolution of 717 gigapixels.

The team used a 100-megapixel Hasselblad H6D 400 MS-camera to capture 8,439 individual photos of the painting. Artificial intelligence was then used to stitch the whole thing together, resulting in a massive photo featuring 717 billion pixels with a total file size of 5.6 terabytes.

The image is four times as sharp as the photograph the museum published in May 2020. In fact, it’s the world’s largest digital image of a piece of art and puts that 195 gigapixel image of Shanghai to shame.

Related reading: Rembrandt's 'The Night Watch' painting has been restored to its original size thanks to AI

The museum said the ultra high-res image will allow scientists to study the painting remotely and the aging process in even greater detail.

Even cooler is the fact that it’s available for anyone to view free of charge over on the museum’s website. A version with the missing sides in place is also available. The sheer level of detail here is absolutely astounding.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/92953-717-gigapixel-photograph-night-watch-viewable-online-free.html

 

[pcnthuziast]

File size is actually impressively small for that!

 

[captaincranky]

They should probably jpeg it down to about 3.5 TB. That way, you'd only have to dedicate one 4 TB drive to store it.

Yeah, I know, "blasphemer" (I hear ya, and am still ignoring you).

 

[Lew Zealand]

So I should finally upgrade to a 1080p TV to see that image?

 

[captaincranky]

So I should finally upgrade to a 1080p TV to see that image?

Nah, you'll still be able to see it just fine on your 480i CRT

 

[Eversong]

So, "a viral moment" with a dog licking his own *** or a land tile with a gorgeous but bland artwork in MMMORPG -- that's NFT, have their respective tradable values.
Mike Shinoda saying we're uncivilized barbarians and selling the singles (not even the albums with unique features) as NFT copies is the brightest possible future.
A ginormous and very detailed digital copy of an old painting, from a renowned artist, available for free to everyone -- forget NFT, apparently, the very thought of giving any form of ownership to anyone didn't even crossed their mind, it would simply be wrong.
I see. Earth 2022, awaiting for a blasted meteor to reset it all, even though there are cool people like these guys. Such a shame they are just a drop in the ocean of filth.

 

[Morphine Child]

Wow, that loaded up way faster than expected. And OP is right, level of detail is absolutely stunning!

 

[trgz]

Stunning. I saw it in person many years ago and, in my mind at least, I remember it being darker (maybe it's my monitor?) - the details that you could see in the dark were uncanny though.

 

[captaincranky]

. In fact, it’s the world’s largest digital image of a piece of art and puts that 195 gigapixel image of Shanghai to shame.

I tried to track this own last night, and Opera started to blow up all kind of warnings about it bring a "honey trap". (Trying to steal your data, yadda, yadda, yadda).

Maybe it's just as harmless as the site not being HTTPS

 

[Bao Nguyen]

It's only a matter of time before the NFT for this image to come about

 

[Adhmuz]

Neat.