PREVIEW

Rembrandt’s The Night Watch, one of the world’s most famous paintings, is on the way to being seen in all its glory again after five years of painstaking restoration.


On Tuesday (12November2024) a team of eight Rijksmuseum conservators started removing the varnish from The Night Watch.

This marks the beginning of the second phase of Operation Night Watch, the biggest ever research and restoration project devoted to this masterpiece by Rembrandt.

Removing the old varnish will enable the team to preserve the painting for future generations.

Visitors to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam are able to follow the process live in the Night Watch Gallery, where the restoration work is being carried out with microscopic precision in the see-through glass chamber.

Taco Dibbits, Director of the Rijksmuseum, said: “The start of the restoration phase is filled with anticipation: removing the varnish will expose the eventful history of The Night Watch, and it will be a truly unique experience for the visiting public to be able to follow the process from so close by.”

The conservators are using a special type of tissue to remove the varnish layers that were applied to the painting as part of its restoration in 1975-1976. The conservators place the tissue, prepared with a solvent, against the surface of The Night Watch for a short, limited amount of time. The varnish is solubilised and absorbed into the tissue. Then, using a microscope, they carefully remove any remnants of even older varnish with cotton swabs. This moment is the culmination of years of scientific research, applying this technique to other paintings, and conducting tests on The Night Watch itself.

Curators, scientists and other specialists have studied The Night Watch using the most advanced technologies: from digital imaging to scientific and technical studies, and from computer science to artificial intelligence. This work has led to various breakthroughs in our understanding of the painting’s condition and the artist’s way of working.

Their achievements include taking the most detailed photograph of an artwork ever, creating a 717 gigapixel image of Rembrandt’s masterpiece.