I saw an exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and know what you mean about his technical mastery. Though I have to admit that I did stifle more than one yawn.
Through the years, I had seen thousands of variants of his work (posters, pictures in magazines, etc) but never the actual real paintings.
When I did, I was amazed. They were beautiful, and the level of detail is remarkable. I was particularly taken by this painting below:
I had seen this one many times, but when I saw the real thing, it made the reproductions pale in comparison.