Rijksmuseum uses AI to Recreate Missing Parts of The Night Watch
June 24 2021
Picture: Artnews.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam have produced a very interesting video showing the outcome of a research project to reconstruct the missing parts of Rembrandt's The Night Watch. Famously, the painting was cut down fifty years after the artist's death to fit in between a doorway. Instead of waiting for the missing pieces to reappear, the museum decided to go about reconstructing the cut sections using a seventeenth century copy of the original and a team of computer geeks. A sophisticated AI program was used to 'imitate' Rembrandt's stylistic straights and new boards were printed to afford us a glimpse of the artist's original intentions.
_____________
This is undoubtedly an impressive feat of technology. Yet, I personally can't help but find the printed foamex boards a little ugly and distracting to the eye. Their glassy smoothness affords the additions a rather lifeless quality. This may well have been part of the plan, as it has become rather fashionable in the world of conservation (since the time of William Morris I suppose) for modern interventions to appear modern rather than harmonise seamlessly. Despite what the AI learnt in 'art school', Rembrandt's now encircled original work manages to shine through brilliantly.
I grant you that people visit museums and galleries for all sorts of reasons. Personally speaking, I adore such places because one is immersed in the world of the handmade, freed from screens, boards and all the other mundane trappings of our modern age.
