"The Night Watch: Rembrandt painting to be restored under world's gaze"

[suffragette]

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/oct/16/the-night-watch-rembrandt-painting-to-be-restored-under-worlds-gaze

The Night Watch by Rembrandt, one of the world’s most spectacular paintings, is to be restored under the world’s gaze at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, its general director has told the Guardian.

The public will be invited to watch the intimate conservation process, both up close in the gallery itself and via an internet livestream, in what is believed to be the biggest ever undertaking of its kind.

Taco Dibbits said it was expected to be a slow and intricate project, which would take several years and cost millions of euros.

“It will be carried out under the eyes of the world, and people will be able to follow the conservation wherever they are, whenever they want,” the art historian, who has been head of the Rijksmuseum since 2016, said in an exclusive interview.

Obama and Rutte at Rijksmuseum affirming being NATO allies

And for a bit of fun, here’s a flash mob recreating the painting.
https://m.

[Turbineguy]

1. "Did you see? That guy just moved!"

[suffragette]

2. :)

[Aristus]

3. It's one of my favorite paintings.

One thing they probably won't be able to do is restore the excised portions of canvas. The arch in the painting was once in the center of the composition. But trims made to the canvas to get it to fit in its intended space moved the arch so it's now off-center. That's probably not something they can fix.

One of my favorite things about Night Watch (originally titled The Marching Out Of The Militia Of Captain Franz Banning Cocque )
is that it takes place during the daytime, not at night. The canvas was once covered with a thick varnish designed to protect the paint, but eventually darkened to the point where it was believed to be depicting a night scene, hence the popular but inaccurate title.

[suffragette]

4. It's a stunning work. We're fortunate we still have it, especially since it's been attacked a few

times.

I wonder what changes the restoration might make.

[Aristus]

5. I'm just glad it's a professional restoration.

It seems like it's becoming a trend that whenever an historically important work of art is in need of restoration, rather than call in a professional, they just say something like: "Hey! Maria likes to do art. Let's have her do it. It'll save us a fortune!"

And then this happens:

[suffragette]

6. Completely agree. Glad it will be professional and transparent. The recent botching of St George

restoration also came to mind.

<shudder>

[Codeine]

8. I wonder if the restoration will return

the appearance to that of a day lit scene?

[Permanut]

7. And extra points for the name "Taco Dibbits". nt.

[Aristus]

9. I wonder if Taco is a popular Dutch name or nickname.

Back in the 80's, there was a Dutch singer named Taco. He did a cool rendition of 'Puttin' On The Ritz.'

[suffragette]

10. I didn't pay nearly enough attention to that name on my first read-through.

Good catch!