Scientists say they have found the pigment that put the “Golden” in the Dutch Golden Age in Rembrandt’s work. New research into the paint Rembrandt used to symbolize glistening embroidery particulars in “The Night Watch” (1642) reveals proof of rarer arsenic sulfide mineral variants as an alternative of orpiment, the extra available pigment at the time.
The analysis workforce got here collectively from the Rijksmuseum and the University of Amsterdam in 2019 for Operation Night Watch, an effort to protect Rembrandt’s most bold masterpiece for hundreds of years to return. The portray went by way 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 way of the varnish. However, Rembrandt’s unique paint choices haven’t withstood the check of time, as evidenced by an almost fully light rendering of a canine in addition to the darkish speckling on the face of one particular person.
The most up-to-date preservation efforts required numerous scans and exams to establish the supplies Rembrandt employed and perceive their chemical reactions with one another and exterior parts. To their shock final 12 months, the scientists discerned that he had prepared 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 Watch workforce additionally deployed numerous non-invasive analytical imaging methods and paint pattern exams to demystify Rembrandt’s signature gold detailing. They discovered that the Dutch Master 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 workforce initially believed that Rembrandt had used the extra traditionally current mineral orpiment as a consequence of its inclusion in two of his later works: “The Jewish Bride” (1665) and “The Man in a Red Cap” (c. 1665). Upon figuring out the presence of pararealgar and semi-amorphous pararealgar, the researchers hypothesized that each substances appeared in “The Night Watch” because of this of degradation over time. However, supplemental literary analysis into the availability, manufacturing, and use of each mineral pigments in the 17th century yielded an intensive paper path of historic paperwork.
“Our analysis concerned inspecting 17th-century commerce information, apothecary pharmacopeias, tariffs, and up to date writings on metallurgy, painters’ manuals, and alchemical literature, together with Danish historian Ole Worm’s Museum Wormianum,” wrote Nouchka de Keyser, one of Operation Night Watch’s researchers, in an e mail to Hyperallergic.
Expanding on the work of students equivalent to Carolin Rötter, Guenter Grundmann, and Mark Richter, De Keyser specified that the workforce labored to find out how Rembrandt acquired the pigments, how they have been produced and imported, and the way a lot they could have value, amongst different questions.
“We also studied a 17th-century collector’s cabinet from the Rijksmuseum, which includes various types of arsenic sulfides, hoping to match them with the pigments found in Rembrandt’s painting,” De Keyser continued. “This deep dive into the historical sources really allowed us to piece together a more comprehensive picture of these pigments in the market and how Rembrandt ended up using them.”