A hidden sketch was found under Rembrandt’s Night Watch, allowing experts to understand how the masterpiece was painted, world news agencies reported, citing information from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Director Taco Dibits described the discovery as a “breakthrough”, presenting a new study of the iconic work from 1642.
“We always suspected that Rembrandt should have sketched the canvas before embarking on this extremely complex composition, but we had found no evidence,” he said.
Experts from the Rijksmuseum have been working on the Night Watch operation for two and a half years, using various techniques and computer technologies to gather as much data as possible about the work.
“This allows us to look as if over the artist’s shoulder and see how he takes the first steps in creating a masterpiece,” said in a statement to the museum. According to Dibits “we are currently able to look under the paint better than ever … We discovered the genesis of “Night Watch”.
New technologies allow experts from a famous Dutch museum to analyze “in the smallest detail” the materials used by Rembrandt.
According to the study, the artist used beige paint with a high content of chalk for his rough sketch.
Meanwhile, the Rijksmuseum announced that minor deformations that the iconic Night Watch canvas had received in its upper left corner were to be repaired, the Associated Press reported.
The painting will be removed from the wooden frame next month and placed in a new one to straighten the “ripples”. They appeared when the work was moved to a temporary gallery during the restoration work at the Amsterdam Museum between 2003 and 2013.
According to experts, the deformations were probably the result of very large “climate fluctuations in the gallery”, where the “Night Watch” hung during the renovation work at the Rijksmuseum.
The painting has undergone numerous restorations. It was placed in its current frame in 1975. Once the “ripples” on the canvas have been fixed, the museum will decide whether additional restoration work is needed.
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