Well hell, would you look at this: an interactive 10-gigapixel scan of Johannes Vermeer's iconic painting Girl With a Pearl Earring made by stitching together thousands of photos from a digital microscope. From top to bottom above: the entire painting, the earring (not even fully zoomed in), her lips (again, not full zoom), and a full-zoom image of the skin on her cheek. The detail is incredible — each pixel is 4.4 microns (0.0044 mm) across. The microscope also captured 3D data about the painting — click on the "3D" button in the viewer to see the 3D views.
For a look at how they captured this image, check out this behind-the-scenes video.
See also The Rijksmuseum Has Released a 44.8 Gigapixel Image of Rembrandt's The Night Watch. (via colossal)