The Wall Street Journal/Associated Press covers the Prado’s new program to allow high resolution searching of art works:

The initiative, announced Tuesday, is the first of its kind involving an art museum. It involves 14 of the Prado’s paintings, including Diego Velazquez’s “Las Meninas,” Francisco de Goya’s “Third of May” and Peter Paul Rubens’s “The Three Graces.”

“There is no better way to pay tribute to the great masters of the history of art than to universalize knowledge of their works using optimum conditions,” Prado director Miguel Zugaza said. [ . . . ]

The Prado idea was the brainchild of Google worker Clara Rivera. “There is nothing comparable to standing before any of these paintings, but this offers a complementary view,” she said. “Normally you have to stand a good distance away from these works, but this offers you the chance to see details that you could only see from a big ladder placed right beside them.”

The images can be seen by going to Google, downloading the Google Earth software, then typing in Prado Museum in the search engine. Once the museum zooms into focus, click on the square with the name of the museum.

Google Earth is Zooming in on Spain’s Art (Wall Street Journal)