The Prado museum in Madrid contain’s some of the art world’s most treasured masterpieces, from El Greco, Rembrandt, Durer, Raphael, Van de Weyden, Tiepolo, Ribera, Fra Angelico and Titian. Google has just presented a collaboration with the museum, to bring the masterpieces to a wider audience.

Users will be able to explore the paintings of the artists above in minute detail – more than 1,400 times clearer than anything the average tourist’s 10-megapixel camera could render, claims the director of Google Spain, Javier Rodriguez Zapatero. The company stitched together over 8,200 “mega-high-resolution” photos digitally.

One of the museum’s most popular paintings, Hieronymous Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights, is included, and you’ll be pleased to hear that it’s very easy indeed to zoom in on the naughty bits. To see the digital reproductions for yourself, download the Google Earth program, activate three-dimensional view and click on Prado Museum.

(via the Independent)

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