Make no mistake, Google Art Project has partnered with some amazing museums and cultural centers around the world in order to bring people greater access to some of the world’s most important and valuable works of art. Not only has Google Art Project assembled virtual galleries that users can peruse, but it also offers Street View for 51 museums that partnered up in the project.
Still, the project is lacking perhaps the most recognizable work of art in history: Leonardo’s Mona Lisa.
According to Bloomberg News, however, that could soon be changing now that Google has begun talking with the Louvre, home of the Mona Lisa and the most visited museum in the world, in order to work out a deal where Google may be granted access to the Louvre’s 400,000-plus collection of art.
“Everyone asks me if we have Leonardo’s Mona Lisa,” Amit Sood, who heads the project, said at a news briefing in Paris. “We’re talking to people from the Louvre. Maybe they’ll be part of the next phase.”
When contacted by telephone by Bloomberg News, a spokeswoman at the Louvre press office declined to comment and wouldn’t give her name.
Amassing virtual tours that features the likes of Bosch, Van Gogh, and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., La Gioconda will undoubtedly be the elusive jewel missing from Art Project’s crown.
To sample what Art Project has been doing with Google Street view, check out the Tokyo National Museum below.
[Via Bloomberg.]