A museum without walls: How the Met is bringing its ancient collection online

The baby Jesus in Italian sculptor Luca della Robbia’s "Madonna and Child with Scroll" is surprisingly…sassy. Wrapped in his placid mother’s arms, he even seems to be serving a “girl, please” side-eye. His whole figure is full of personality and detail; his baby hands and ears, though porcelain, look chubby enough to bite. Up close — very up close — he even has baby teeth.

On October 4, Joe Coscia, Jr., the Metropolitan Museum of Art's quiet but devoted chief photographer, undertook the task of capturing the Madonna, and her child with their scroll, digitally. 

“How often do you get to photograph a della Robbia?” Coscia said while he worked. “Maybe once in a lifetime — twice if you’re lucky.” Read more...