THE HAGUE, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam will start the restoration of Rembrandt's masterpiece The Night Watch in July 2019, the Dutch museum announced on Tuesday.
More than 40 years ago the last major restoration of The Night Watch took place, following an attack on the painting in 1975. The next restoration will be done in front of the public eye, as people are invited to watch the restoration process at the museum and online. The year 2019 marks the 350th anniversary of the artist's death.
"The Night Watch is one of the most famous paintings in the world," Taco Dibbits, general director of the Rijksmuseum, said in a press release. "It belongs to us all, and that is why we have decided to conduct the restoration within the museum itself, and everyone, wherever they are, will be able to follow the process online."
The Night Watch belongs to the city of Amsterdam and is part of the Rijksmuseum collection since 1808. It was Rembrandt's first and only painting of a militia group, commissioned in 1642 by the mayor and leader of the civic guard of Amsterdam, Frans Banninck Cocq, to create a group portrait of his shooting company.
