www.intomobile.com, 11 June 2009

UK: National Gallery paintings in superb detail on your iPhone

Do you want to enjoy the National Gallery anywhere in the world? Well now you can:

The National Gallery is the first ever gallery to make its paintings accessible through a downloadable iPhone application, making it possible to take a mini tour of the Gallery anywhere in the world.

The Gallery, in partnership with Antenna Audio and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) Inc., has designed a new application for iPhones and iTouch devices that enables people to explore a sample of the collection while they’re on the move. Designed to appeal to art enthusiasts and fans of the Gallery, this application is the first of its kind to be released by a major gallery.

This Pentimento application, called Love Art, features 250 paintings from the collection along with around 200 minutes of audio and video content, including interviews with National Gallery Director Dr Nicholas Penny, dramatist Robin Brooks, artist Maggie Hambling and Girl with a Pearl Earring author Tracy Chevalier.

Making use of special iPhone features such as its large touch-screen, zoom, Rolodex and scrollable menus, Love Art offers a playful exploration of the collection, together with informative commentaries. The paintings are showcased to the best advantage using high-resolution images on the iPhone’s excellent-quality screen. Due to a tactile interface the experience gained through this application is not only highly enjoyable, but also lets you zoom in to see details that are often missed.

Having tried out this bad boy, it reminds me of three things:

1) iPhone Apps are great

2) Some art is amazing

3) The App store is VERY big

At least now you have a chance to go download the App if you want - Love Art can be downloaded from Apple’s online iTunes Store, one of the world’s leading sites for downloading audio content. For a short time only it is available free of charge.

By Ben Robinson on Thursday, June 11th, 2009 at 1:12 PM PST In The Digital Life, UK News