‘Rembrandt’s DNA would be the Holy Grail’: new research samples bacteria on the surface of The Night Watch

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has begun a six-month study to measure bacteria on the surface of Rembrandt’s The Night Watch (1642) as part of its five-year “Operation Night Watch” restoration and research project. Working with Artis-Micropia (a microbes museum linked to Amsterdam zoo), scientists will sample areas with and without varnish, culture the microorganisms, and present the results in an installation titled The Night Watch Lives opening 11 November. Rijksmuseum head of science Katrien Keune said the project explores how visitors’ biomaterial may be represented on the painting, while noting that finding “the bacteria of Rembrandt” would be a “Holy Grail.” The research also builds on findings that Rembrandt used an oil-lead ground layer—unlike contemporaries’ glue layers—which may have helped prevent mould in Amsterdam’s damp conditions, and highlights that deep-cleaning of such works occurs only about once every 50 years.

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