{"id":4921,"date":"2026-03-05T09:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=4921"},"modified":"2026-03-05T09:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:46:08","slug":"the-met-introduces-high-definition-3d-scans-of-dozens-of-art-historical-objects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=4921","title":{"rendered":"The Met Introduces High-Definition 3D Scans of Dozens of Art Historical Objects"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

In the age of the internet, we\u2019re fortunate to have virtual access to museum collections around the world, thanks to objects in the public domain<\/a> and programs like The Metropolitan Museum of Art<\/a>\u2019s Open Access Initiative. Through a searchable digital catalogue, visitors to the museum\u2019s website can see hundreds of thousands of objects, many images of which are available for download. And it\u2019s not alone<\/a>\u2014other institutions like the Art Institute of Chicago, The National Gallery of Art, and The Cleveland Museum of Art, among others, make pieces in their collections accessible to all.<\/p>\n

The thing is, digital images don\u2019t always give us the full picture, so to speak. Even two-dimensional paintings and drawings have unique textures, structural details, and materials that we can only really appreciate in person. This won\u2019t ever really change\u2014nothing beats the real thing. But one caveat is that even in person, much of the work remains hidden. We can\u2019t see the backs of oil paintings, for example, and edges are often hidden within frames. Thanks to The Met\u2019s continued emphasis on imaging, we can now experience every detail in three-dimensional renderings<\/a> of nearly 140 significant objects in its holdings.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Temple of Dendur (10th century B.C.E.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Met is home to a whopping 1.5 million historic objects, which range from the iconic Temple of Dendur and Impressionist paintings to African tribal ceremonial sculptures and medieval pottery. The museum recently published 3D models of some of these, plus numerous other objects, including nine produced in collaboration with NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation).<\/p>\n

With careful attention to technical precision and color, these animated renderings are research-grade tools, allowing us to see the objects at any angle. View van Gogh\u2019s brushstrokes closer than you\u2019re allowed to in a museum, zoom in on a Babylonian cuneiform tablet, and turn an 18th-century Turkish tile over to see its reverse side.<\/p>\n

The Met plans to continue adding 3D scans to its online library. Explore more on the museum\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article The Met Introduces High-Definition 3D Scans of Dozens of Art Historical Objects<\/a> appeared first on Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the age of the internet, we\u2019re fortunate to have virtual access to museum collections around the world, thanks to objects in the public domain and programs like The Metropolitan…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4921\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}