Scientists Just Solved a Longstanding “Night Watch” Mystery

In 2013, Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum reopened to the public after a lengthy renovation. Writing in The New Yorker at the time, noted art critic Peter Schjeldahl cited one particular piece from the collection, Rembrandt’s The Night Watch, as “one of the world’s two best paintings.” Schjeldahl went on to describe some of the qualities that make this painting so compelling. “A militia company of vivid individuals disport in velvety deep space, each evincing some particular delight,” he wrote.

Later in the same article, he pointed to one memorable quality embedded in the painting: “The picture is inexhaustibly alive.” And now, after years of research, scientists have a better understanding of just how Rembrandt achieved those stunning effects.

At ARTnews, George Nelson reports that after five years of analysis, scientists think they’ve determined the way that Rembrandt created a distinctive shade of gold for this painting. As Nelson writes, scientists found evidence of both pararealgar and semi-amorphous pararealgar in the painting — suggesting the use of multiple arsenic sulfide minerals to achieve the desired color.

Nelson also notes that an initiative to learn more about The Night Watch — dubbed Operation Night Watch — has been underway since 2019.

Researchers Found a Sketch Beneath Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch”

The findings are part of a larger project

Better understanding the science of The Night Watch wasn’t the only aspect of this project. As the New York Times reported in 2021, another element involved reconstructing elements of the original painting that had been lost over the years. And while this new finding is unlikely to spark a revival of Rembrandt’s style — arsenic has fallen out of favor among artists for understandable reasons — it’s still a fascinating glimpse into how an enduring work of art was made.