The iconic painting is a 12-by-14-foot canvas illustrating 34 figures of an early modern militia.
Now, this monumental work can be explored in microscopic detail through a717-gigapixel photographof the work.
Created by theRijksmuseumwhere the painting currently residesthe photo is itself a work of art.
“The Night Watch,” or “The Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburgh,” by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1642. (Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Its digital representation was created from 8,439 individual images stitched and layered.
The individual pixels are almost as detailed as the original brush strokes.
The photograph even restores edges of the painting which had been previously lost.
Detail from Rembrandt’s 717-gigapixel “The Night Watch” at the Rijksmuseum. (Photo: Detail screenshot via theRijksmuseum)
This is not the painting’s first restoration.
In the 1940s, a dark varnish which had long covered the original paint was removed.
This altered the interpretation of the painting, as scholars had long believed the darkness indicated a night scene.
Explore Rembrandts famous paintingThe Night Watchin a new 717-gigapixel photo from the Rijksmuseum.
Detail from Rembrandt’s 717-gigapixel The Night Watch at the Rijksmuseum.
