Painting Militia Company of District II under Captain Frans Banninck Cocq (better known as The Night Watch) painted in 1642 by Dutch master Rembrandt could not have predicted the strange life this painting would lead. To fit between two city hall doors, two panels of the painting were cut from each side in 1715. It was stabbed with a knife in 1975. Also, in 1990, acid was sprayed on it, making it unusable. Operation Night Watch, which has been used to study and preserve the painting, is even more astounding than previously thought. Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam launched the multimillion-dollar Operation Night Watch program in 2019, which aimed to study the painting thoroughly and identify possible conservation efforts to recreate the missing pieces that were slashed off in 1715. Operation Night Watch has reached its conclusion and is now inspecting the back of the painting.
Currently, on display in the Rijksmuseum, visitors can take a look behind the scenes at the work being done by the museum's researchers. Measurements will be made using light or sound waves to determine how well the support canvas is attached to the original on which Rembrandt painted. Shearography analysis will be used. The museum will perform a conservation treatment if significant flaws are discovered. Researchers will then use a stereoscopic microscope to examine the painting's bottom layers in order to gain a better understanding of how Rembrandt created his masterpiece.
Pieter Roelofs, the Rijksmuseum's head of paintings and sculpture, observed that viewing an object from the back creates an oddly emotional response. To see the painting without a frame "you can see how fragile the painting is and how great our responsibility is to properly research this world-famous artwork before we pass it on to future generations," he wrote in an email. After November 23, the painting will be returned to a wall.
Jean Dubreil
