Google Arts & Culture has announced a new feature that gathers all 36 of Johannes Vermeer’s known works in a virtual exhibition space where they can be viewed in all their detail.
In addition to “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, perhaps the most famous work by the Dutch Master, viewers will find “The Concert”, which went missing more than 28 years ago in a famous heist at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
With the rest of the artist’s masterpieces scattered across seven countries, and some too fragile to travel, the online exhibition, called Pocket Gallery, marks the first time all of his work are gathered in one place.
Eight of the works were added to the exhibition using Google’s high-resolution robotic Art Camera, which was deployed to galleries around the world to get the highest-ever resolution image of each for maximum zooming. Viewers can also experience guided tours and hear stories from experts including “Girl With a Pearl Earring” author Tracy Chevalier.
Also included is an original piece of art titled “Icons” conceived by Justin Richburg, who created the character designs for Childish Gambino’s music video “Feels like Summer”, that reimagines Vermeer in the 21st century, showing how the subjects of his paintings have themselves become icons.
To view the virtual exhibition, go to artsandculture.google.com/project/vermeer or try out the Pocket Gallery on the Google Arts & Culture app for iOS or Android. JB
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