Operation Night Watch
A look into how the Rijksmuseum is conducting its largest research and conservation project ever
In 2018, Rijksmuseum General Director, Taco Dibbits, announced that the museum would partner with global paint and color experts AkzoNobel, to begin restoring, in full public view, one of the most famous paintings in the world, The Night Watch by Rembrandt van Rijn. While open-conservation isn’t a new process, the Rijksmuseum also decided to live-stream the restoration process, giving art lovers from all over the world the chance to have an in-depth view and learn more than ever before about this 378 year old masterpiece.
A Very Brief History and its Journey to the Rijksmuseum
The painting — Originally having no title, but given the name Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq by the Rijksmuseum— earned its moniker due to the multiple layers of varnish Rembrandt had applied to it, which by the late 18th century had darkened to the point that people thought it depicted a night scene. It wasn’t until the 1940’s, when the varnish was removed that researchers realized the scene actually took place during the day.
Captain Banninck Cocq, along with 17 members of his militia, commissioned the painting in 1639 to hang in a newly built banquet hall in Amsterdam. Rembrandt was paid 1,600 guilders and painted the enormous 11.91 ft x 14.34 ft work, comprised of 34 characters, over the course of 3 years. Unlike the rigid group portraits painted during that time, where all members would be equally lit and given equal prominence in static rows, Rembrandt decided to use a more controversial approach, and with an unprecedented manipulation of light became the first artist to depict figures in a group portrait in action.
In 1715, the painting was trimmed on all four sides to be moved to the Amsterdam Town Hall, which resulted in the loss of two of the figures. Luckily, a painter named Gerrit Lundens (1622–1686) painted a smaller copy of The Night Watch — housed in the National Gallery in London — containing the painting in its entirety, keeping the two figures from being lost forever.
In 1806, Louis Napoleon (brother of Napoleon Bonaparte) became King Louis I of Holland. After moving to Amsterdam, King Louis converted the Town Hall into the Royal Palace of and on his orders, the Rijksmuseum moved from The Hague to the Royal Palace, opening in 1809. From there, the painting moved to the Trippenhuis in 1817, then to Harrlem where it hung until 1885, before moving into a newly designed Rijksmuseum.
In 1939, the painting was once again removed from the Rijksmuseum and stored for four years inside a safe within the caves of Maastricht, Netherlands, to protect it — and many other works of art — from the events of World War II. Once the war ended, the painting was restored to its location within the Rijksmuseum.
An Unparalleled Restoration
“The Operation Night Watch research team use the very latest technologies and continually push the boundaries of what was thought possible.” — Museum Director Taco Dibbits
The research phase of Operation Night Watch kicked off in 2019 with the construction of an ultra-transparent glass chamber, designed by French architect Jean Michel Wilmotte. Once the painting was secure inside the chamber, its frame was removed, and advanced imaging techniques were administered to learn what secrets were contained within.
Using macro X-ray fluorescence scanning and hyperspectral imaging, The Night Watch was scanned millimeter-by-millimeter to analyze chemical elements in the paint and pigments used. A total of 56 scans were performed — each requiring 24 hours to complete — in order to cover the entire surface of the painting. This type of equipment is crucial to a project like this because in being able to break down the elemental composition within the paint, the museum can determine the best way to preserve the painting.
The macro-XRF scans also yielded important details within the painting. It was determined that the chemical elements present are lead, iron, and calcium. The iron scan also uncovered feathers on a helmet of one of the background characters that Rembrandt painted out that cannot be seen by the naked eye, nor were they visible in the X-radiographs that were taken in the 1970’s. It was also discovered that Rembrandt used an arsenic-based pigment for some areas, such as gold embroidery on the clothing, that at the time was mainly used for paintings of still life, such as fruit and flowers.
Using a macro X-ray Powder Diffraction scanning process, the museum was able to break down pigment composition within the elements to an even further degree than the maco-XRF scans. By deflecting and reflecting radiation as it detects a pigment, the macro-XRPD identifies different crystalline structures of pigments at an atomic level, and makes it possible for Operation Night Watch to map the degradation conditions within the layers of paint.
In order to see the buildup of paint layers and to determine how the paint has changed over time, the researchers chose very specific areas to extract samples measuring around 200-micrometers, (1 micrometer is 0.000001 meters) too small to be seen by the naked eye. Once extracted, the sample is embedded in a small block of resin, then polished and photographed to be examined using microscopic techniques.
Probably the most incredible part for the followers of Operation Night Watch (so far) occurred in May, when the Rijksmuseum published a massive, 44.8 gigapixel image of The Night Watch, comprised of 528 different still photos. According to the museum, “The 24 rows of 22 pictures were stitched together digitally with the aid of neural networks.” The photo is so enormous, that zooming in allows the viewer to see individual brushstrokes and flecks of paint.
Currently, researchers are using a robotic camera to take more than 8,400 photos at a resolution of 5-micrometers. To put that in perspective, Rijksmuseum Senior Scientist Robert Erdmann explains, “A human red blood cell is 8-micrometers wide, so it would take a 2.2 array of our pixels to hold one human red blood cell.”
Once all the photos have been taken, they will be digitally assembled to form a single image, allowing researchers to view individual pigment particles and aid in preservation.
While COVID-19 has slowed Operation Night Watch to the point that the restoration phase, which was originally to begin shortly following summer 2020 has been pushed back to early 2021, the study of the painting has continued both virtually as well as in-person, albeit with greater social distance. Aided by advanced technology, as well as a remarkable team of experts, the Rijksmuseum has taken monumental strides that will not only guide them through the process of restoring and preserving The Night Watch for generations, but will also assist them in learning more than ever before about Rembrandt’s magnum opus.
