The deformations are then expected to relax and the painting they will assume a flatter, more even surface. It will then be put on to a new strainer, a non-reactive material, that we feel will actually be much more stable for the painting. She said: “We strongly feel that the wooden stretcher is contributing to the problem because a wooden stretch actually reacts differently to the canvas. The 3.63-metre by 4.37-metre painting will be taken from its current wooden stretcher, the framework to which the painting has been held by metal tacks since 1975, said Petria Noble, the museum’s head of painting conservation. The priority, Roelofs said, was to tackle the deformation of the canvas seen in particular in its top left-hand corner, which is believed to have been happened during its stay in the Philips wing of the Rijksmuseum during the main building’s renovation between 20. The main purpose of the latest research into The Night Watch was to prepare for its first restoration in over 40 years.ĭespite the painting having endured a tumultuous four centuries, including transportation into a bunker in coastal dunes at the start of the second world war, its condition is said to be very good despite evidence of abrasion, discoloration and paint loss over time. But probably he removed the feathers, because they drew too much attention as Van Cruijsbergen is in the centre of the composition.”
“Why did Rembrandt change his mind, you might ask?” said Roelofs. He sketched more spears than he painted, adjusted the leg position of sergeant Rombout Kemp and there are signs that there was an additional sword in the original between the captain and his lieutenant, Willem van Ruytenburch. They found that Rembrandt originally painted feathers for the helmet of the militiaman Claes van Cruijsbergen, but later painted them over. Imaging methods were used to get beneath the layers. Rembrandt used the impasto technique, involving the application of thick paint on the canvas to achieve a three-dimensional structure that reflects light. Since the summer of 2019, staff working on what they have called Operation Night Watch have been using the latest technology to seek out fresh insights into the painting ahead of its restoration. We’ve discovered the origins of The Night Watch.” It is fascinating to see how he’s searched for the right composition. “Now that we can see beneath the surface better than ever before, we now have the proof, this gives us real insight into Rembrandt’s creative process for the first time. “We always suspected that Rembrandt must have sketched it on the canvas before starting this complex composition. You may ask why is this so important? Well, it gives us the feeling we can peek over Rembrandt’s shoulder while he was working on The Night Watch. With the curves he created an initial sketch for the architecture in the background. He said: “We see straight lines and curves. Pieter Roelofs, the Rijksmuseum’s head of paintings, said it had been possible to make Rembrandt’s secret sketch visible through a “calcium map” of the work due to the artist’s use of a chalk-rich paint that could be picked up by the latest scanning technology. The calcium map showing Rembrandt’s sketch in the upper part of the painting.
0 kommentar(er)
