AMSTERDAM (AP) — The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is going to restore its most famous painting, Rembrandt van Rijn's Night Watch, starting next year in a project that will be open to the public and viewable online.
Rijksmusem General Director Taco Dibbits said Tuesday that from July the huge Golden Age masterpiece will be encased in a specially built glass chamber as it first undergoes a thorough varnish-to-canvas examination using a precise microscope. The findings will guide the subsequent restoration.
The painting is ready for a little TLC. Dibbits says the work, which last underwent a restoration 40 years ago, is starting to show blanching in parts of the canvas.
Dibbits says "the restoration techniques we now have are so advanced that we will safeguard the painting for future generations."
