Here's What 45 Million Will Get You

While we're talking about expensive gilded frames and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, are you familiar with Duccio's "Madonna and Child"?

Notable for several things:

First, the painting is roughly the size of a sheet of typing paper
Second, they paid forty-five Large for it
Third, the "child" looks an awful lot like Al Roker.

None of this is as important, however, as cracking into the Met's web-based archive and looking at extremely hi-res versions of some of the most famous works of art in the world.

The Duccio painting is just one.  I zoomed in on the thing til it more than filled my 27" Mac's screen and the detail (magnified many times beyond life size) is quite something.

This, I can only assume (would it kill them to say something?), is some kind of x-ray image of the same painting, also in super hi-res.  Which is also interesting.

These people are maniacs.  A term I use here only in the most complimentary manner.

Here's a pen and ink by Goya.

Goya.  Oh boya!
Exactly.

Here, in the spirit of Andy Warhol -- who's been getting a lot of ink on TYOMP lately -- are some Frijoles Negros.  

Premium.