State of the Art: Museum Takes Hi-Tech Look at Vermeer

Researchers at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague are using the latest technology to take a long, hard look at one of their most prized paintings, Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring," and they are inviting the public in to watch.

For two weeks starting Monday, experts are pointing a battery of high-tech machines at the 17th century masterpiece of a young woman whose enigmatic gaze has earned her the nickname of the Dutch Mona Lisa.

Mauritshuis Director Emilie Gordenker says the iconic painting was last studied in 1994 during a conservation project.

Since then, technology has made such advances that the museum says scanners and X-ray machines can provide new insights into how Vermeer painted the girl and the materials he used.