The painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring" by the Dutch artist Jan Vermeer in 1665 was magnified with an electron microscope. The device enlarged the image 700 times, taking more than 9000 photos, according to The Daily Mail.
The project was implemented by the employees of the Hirox microscope company, Emilien Leonhardt and Vincent Sabatier. It allowed us to see the smallest details and better understand the technique of the famous artist.
Specialists have captured 10 areas of the picture under a microscope. So, they investigated the details of the pearl earring and the dress in which the model was wearing.
On the top of the shoulder, they noticed two small yellow dots, which turned out to be much lighter than the dress itself. A dot of white paint remains in the pupil - in the pictures it looks like a mound, surrounded by cracks and darker shades.
Under the microscope, it became noticeable that Vermeer drew eyelashes to the girl (they are difficult to see with the naked eye). The authors also identified the pigments used by the artist: white lead originating from Northern England, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan and cochineal made from insects in Mexico.
Earlier, "Girl with a Pearl Earring" was studied by experts from the Mauritshuis gallery in the Netherlands. They found that behind the girl was not just a dark background, but folds of green fabric.
