New scans of Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring reveal masterpiece's hidden secrets

A new exhibition at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands, shows how Johannes Vermeer's masterpiece, Girl with a Pearl Earring, has changed over time. Using the latest imaging technology, including a new 108-billion-pixel scan by 3D digital microscopy company Hirox, researchers were able to better understand what this work may have looked like when Vermeer first painted it around 1665. Explore the new scan here: https://hirox-europe.com/gigapixel/gi... "We found out some really exciting things about the girl,” says painting conservator Abbie Vandivere at the Mauritshuis. “For instance, that the background used to be a green curtain, and that she has eyelashes that are now no longer visible because the paints have changed over time.” The scans also revealed that Vermeer made compositional changes during the painting process, such as the position of the ear. They also allowed researchers to trace where his pigments originated. Lead white came from the Peak District in England, cochineal (red) from insects found in Mexico and South America and ultramarine from Afghanistan. – Subscribe ➤ https://bit.ly/NSYTSUBS Get more from New Scientist: Official website: https://bit.ly/NSYTHP Facebook: https://bit.ly/NSYTFB Twitter: https://bit.ly/NSYTTW Instagram: https://bit.ly/NSYTINSTA LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/NSYTLIN About New Scientist: New Scientist was founded in 1956 for “all those interested in scientific discovery and its social consequences”. Today our website, videos, newsletters, app, podcast and print magazine cover the world’s most important, exciting and entertaining science news as well as asking the big-picture questions about life, the universe, and what it means to be human. New Scientist https://www.newscientist.com/