Wallace Collection Treasures in High-Definition

June 20 2025

Image of Wallace Collection Treasures in High-Definition

Picture: The Wallace Collection via. Google Arts

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

Exciting news for those of us who like to Zoom into digital images of paintings In infinitum. The Wallace Collection in London have just announced that a large selection of their treasures are now on Google Arts. Alongside the copious 'digital exhibition' material you'll find are very high-definition images of their paintings. This is a real step-up from the images available on their website. This is a detail of the earlobe and hair from Rembrandt's Self Portrait of c. 1637.

Just for fun, and to test the connoisseurship of readers of AHN, can anyone guess who painted the detail below?

Update - Congratulations to an AHN reader called Jonathan who was the first to spot the feather of Vigée Le Brun's portrait of Madame Perregaux.

Update II - Bendor adds: sharp-eyed visitors to the Google site will note that there is no (C) symbol anywhere by the Wallace's pictures. This is because Google recognises, correctly, that there is no copyright in US or UK law in faithful reproductions of out-oc-copyright artworks. The Wallace Collection, unlike a number of UK institutions (including Tate) continues to assert copyright in its images on its own website, incorrectly. There are a number of tools available online that will let you download a high res image from the Google site. Art historians might like to know that they will be free to reproduce in any format you like.

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