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backstory of how the commercial was made:
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more about the painting and why it is considered a masterpiece:
PhysOrg has an article about the technique behind the painting:
New research has revealed that Rembrandt impregnated the canvas for his famous 1642 militia painting "The Night Watch" with a lead-containing substance even before applying the first ground layer.
.... it was a way to protect the painting from moisture.. the large canvas was intended for a damp outer wall of the great hall of the Kloveniersdoelen (musketeers' shooting range) in Amsterdam.
It had been reported that under humid conditions the common method of preparing the canvas using animal glue could fail. A contemporary source on painting techniques written by Théodore de Mayerne suggested impregnation with lead-rich oil as an alternative. This may have inspired Rembrandt for his unusual impregnation procedure to improve the durability of his masterpiece.
the original picture darkened with age, but restoration has given it a rebirth to show it's original colour.
And now, Art News reports that AI is being used to restore the edges of the picture.
The museum tapped its senior scientist, Rob Erdmann, to head the effort using three primary tools: the remaining preserved section of the original painting, a 17th-century copy of the original painting attributed to Gerrit Lundens that had been made before the cuts, and AI technology.
Wikipedia has a history of the painting including it's many travels and the UKGuardian tells the story of how it was hidden from the Nazi art thieves, and about it's restoration after the war and the repair of areas damaged by time or previous restorations.
so why it is this painting so important? Aside from it's artistic value I mean:
This UKGuardian article from 10 years ago points out that the picture is a symbol of Dutch democracy. Notice the clothes worn are not uniform? Notice the faces are all different?...
The Night Watch was painted in the 17th century as a group portrait of a Militia company led by one Frans Banning Cocq. Companies of urban militia were part of the everyday life of the Dutch Republic,...
The human, all too human company stand together against encroaching shadows. A soft, enfolding fog of night surrounds them. The light that illuminates them is a flash in the dark. They are all the more heroic for being so vulnerable, flawed and eccentric. Most of all, they stand together, as a human community...
While these ordinary people stand guard, we feel a bit safer in our collective defiance of the dark.
