Scientists say they have found the pigment that put the “Golden” within the Dutch Golden Age in Rembrandt’s work. New analysis into the paint Rembrandt used to characterize glistening embroidery particulars in “The Night time Watch” (1642) reveals proof of rarer arsenic sulfide mineral variants as an alternative of orpiment, the extra available pigment on the time.
The analysis crew got here collectively from the Rijksmuseum and the College of Amsterdam in 2019 for Operation Night time Watch, an effort to protect Rembrandt’s most bold masterpiece for hundreds of years to return. The portray went by means of its final main restoration almost 50 years in the past following a slashing assault in 1975, and a much less rigorous one in 1990 after an acid assault solely managed to eat by means of the varnish. Nonetheless, Rembrandt’s authentic paint picks haven’t withstood the take a look at of time, as evidenced by a virtually utterly light rendering of a canine in addition to the darkish speckling on the face of 1 particular person.
The latest preservation efforts required numerous scans and checks to establish the supplies Rembrandt employed and perceive their chemical reactions with one another and exterior parts. To their shock final yr, the scientists discerned that he had ready the canvas with a lead-based substance earlier than making use of a quartz-clay floor layer — a testomony to the artist’s knack for experimentation.
The Operation Night time Watch crew additionally deployed numerous non-invasive analytical imaging methods and paint pattern checks to demystify Rembrandt’s signature gold detailing. They discovered that the Dutch Grasp included “pararealgar and semi-amorphous pararealgar” — yellow and reddish-orange arsenic sulfide mineral variants that he combined with lead-tin yellow and vermillion to attain the glinting, reflective hue.
The crew initially believed that Rembrandt had used the extra traditionally current mineral orpiment attributable to its inclusion in two of his later works: “The Jewish Bride” (1665) and “The Man in a Crimson Cap” (c. 1665). Upon figuring out the presence of pararealgar and semi-amorphous pararealgar, the researchers hypothesized that each substances appeared in “The Night time Watch” because of degradation over time. Nonetheless, supplemental literary analysis into the provision, manufacturing, and use of each mineral pigments within the Seventeenth century yielded an in depth paper path of historic paperwork.
“Our analysis concerned inspecting Seventeenth-century commerce data, apothecary pharmacopeias, tariffs, and modern writings on metallurgy, painters’ manuals, and alchemical literature, together with Danish historian Ole Worm’s Museum Wormianum,” wrote Nouchka de Keyser, one among Operation Night time Watch’s researchers, in an e-mail to Hyperallergic.
Increasing on the work of students resembling Carolin Rötter, Guenter Grundmann, and Mark Richter, De Keyser specified that the crew labored to find out how Rembrandt acquired the pigments, how they had been produced and imported, and the way a lot they may have value, amongst different questions.
“We additionally studied a Seventeenth-century collector’s cupboard from the Rijksmuseum, which incorporates numerous varieties of arsenic sulfides, hoping to match them with the pigments present in Rembrandt’s portray,” De Keyser continued. “This deep dive into the historic sources actually allowed us to piece collectively a extra complete image of those pigments available in the market and the way Rembrandt ended up utilizing them.”