FWIW, I saw this painting (The Music Lesson) when it was on exhibition at the National Gallery in London last year, and that photograph doesn't do it justice.

FWIW, I saw this painting (The Music Lesson) when it was on exhibition at the National Gallery in London last year, and that photograph doesn't do it justice. There's an issue about the quality of the photo, and its colour reproduction, for instance compare these three photos: http://historicartgallery.com/store/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/V/e/Vermeer-Pic0012.jpg_4.jpg http://historicartgallery.com/store/media/catalog/product/ca... http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/vermeer/i/music-lesson.jpg http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/vermeer/i/music-lesson.... http://media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/xl_music.jpg http://media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/xl_mu... Also, part of the exhibition was about various painting and materials techniques he used to achieve effects like opalescence, and I suspect things like that (which work by reflection of light as you move past the photograph) are difficult to capture using photography. Having said that, the reproduction is extremely impressive. I wonder if the process could be automated. I wouldn't mind a fake, almost-as-good-as-Vermeer hanging in my room.