The Last Supper In High Definition
Officials in Italy have put a really, really high definition image of Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper on line for people to examine. How high?
The high resolution will allow experts to examine details of the 15th century wall painting that they otherwise could not — including traces of drawings Leonardo put down before painting.
The high-resolution allows viewers to look at details as though they were inches from the art work, in contrast to regular photographs, which become grainy as you zoom in, said curator Alberto Artioli.
"You can see how Leonardo made the cups transparent, something you can't ordinarily see," said Artioli. "You can also note the state of degradation the painting is in."
Besides allowing experts and art-lovers to study the masterpiece from home, Artioli said the project provides an historical document of how the painting appears in 2007, which will be valuable to future generations of art historians.
The website, http://www.haltadefinizione.com/en/ is not functioning correctly as of this post. But you can listen to some interesting music while you're waiting for it to load. I can't see any way to download the monster image - which is probably for the best. It would probably eat a lot of storage. It is a pretty great solution though. This will allow a lot of people to examine it without causing it any more damage.
Of course, I still like my image of the Last Supper, too.
