The Ghent Altarpiece has long been one of the most sought pieces of art. Now Google has made history by digitizing the painting in high resolution.

One of the first large scale oil paintings in Northern Europe, the Ghent altarpiece was painted in the 1400s by the Van Eyck brothers for a Dutch cathedral. Since then, the artwork’s precise attention to detail has made it one of the most important cultural artifacts of the Northern Renaissance. Because of its fame, the altarpiece has been the prize of art thieves and dictators from Napoleon to Hitler.

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Since it was restored to its original spot in the Saint Bravo Cathedral, by the Monuments Men – a group of Americans intent of preserving masterworks after World War II – the altarpiece has been largely inaccessible to the public.

But now, Google has digitized the artwork by taking over 4,000 high resolution close-up pictures in a lab. The viewer can zoom in up to 8 billion pixels, making these the highest resolution photographs ever taken of the masterpiece.

With this digitization, minute details previously visible only to the Renaissance masters who painted them have become available both for study and the public’s enjoyment.

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Art images via Google.