Google's Art Project collection grows larger

Ten British galleries have been added to the Google service, including The Victoria and Albert Museum, the Dulwich Picture Gallery and the Imperial War Museum.

Art Project launched in February last year with the National Gallery and Tate Britain among the launch partners. Each museum chose one artwork to be featured in ultra-high resolution 'gigapixel' photographs.
Google has expanded that feature and more than 30,000 art works are now available in high resolution, which allows web users to zoom in and see objects and paintings in phenomenal detail.

Damien Whitmore, of the V&A, said: "Some of the V&A's greatest treasures will be available to view in extraordinary high resolution for the first time - from the famous Gloucester Candlestick, a masterpiece of English metalwork, to the Ardabil Carpet, one of the largest examples of Islamic carpets in existence."
The galleries were photographed using Google's 360-degree StreetView cameras, which were allowed to tour each gallery on specially built camera trolleys, making it possible to take virtual tours of museums and galleries all over the world.

Amit Sood, head of Art Project at Google, said: "The Art Project is going global, thanks to our new partners from around the entire world. It's no longer just about the Indian student wanting to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is now also about the American student wanting to visit the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi."
An information panel allows people to read more about an artwork, find more works by that artist and watch related YouTube videos. Users can also save their own personalised selections and add comments that can be shared with selected other viewers.