The "largest and most detailed photograph of any artwork" is now avilable for free viewing on the Rijksmuseum website.

The work of art in question is Rembrandt van Rijn's 1642 The Night Watch, which is approximately a 12 by 14 foot painting at the center of "Operation Night Watch," which is a vast restoration endeavor.

The details in the scan are magnificent, composed with up to 8,439 individual images shot with a 100 megapixel camera. The scan is available here. According to reports, neural networks were employed to assess each photograph for color and clarity, and an AI system assisted in stitching the photos and morphing them into a single image. 

The mind-blowing effect gives you the opportunity to view the individual cracks and brush strokes of the original painting by coming as close to the image as possible.

The website also offers another version of the image with the missing clipped sides restored.

The sides were removed in 1715 to allow it to fit into a more limited space in Amsterdam's City Hall. Last year, the pieces were reconstructed using a 17th-century duplicate of the original artwork produced by Gerrit Lundens.

According to the Rijksmuseum's news release, this scan will aid in the painting's remote investigation, particularly for academics who will be able to more accurately track how the artwork matures in the future. The museum says it plans to mount The Night Watch onto a new stretcher to fix distortions in the canvas, as well as other treatments of conservation.

A 10 gigapixel scan of Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring is viewable here.