(ORDO NEWS) — At 3.63 meters tall, the painting known as The Night Watch is Rembrandt’s largest painting. Centuries after it was written, it continues to amaze scientists.
A team of researchers from Europe discovered an unexpected molecule while studying the composition of the paint used to paint the famous piece of art from the Dutch Golden Age.
Due to layers of pigments and other media such as primers and varnishes, paints at different levels of a painting can vary in chemical composition.
Therefore, in addition to scanning the surface of the paintings, experts from the Operation Night Watch conservation project take the smallest paint samples through the layers of the famous painting.
The secret of Rembrandt’s painting
In 2021, two years after the start of the project, macro-radiography revealed Rembrandt’s original sketch in the final version of The Night Watch.
By shooting x-rays at a painting, the technology causes pigments to absorb and then emit high-energy light in characteristic ways, determining the distribution of different elements in individual layers.
This allowed scientists to open the original sketch of the painting, which turned out to be a lot of small details, which the artist then changed to make the masterpiece look like it is today.
However, the attention of the researcher was attracted not only by the images. A technique called X-ray powder diffraction revealed the presence of lead formats, including the rare lead(II) formate, Pb(HCOO) 2.
In fact, it is not surprising that a lead compound was present in Rembrandt’s work of art, since these compounds were commonly used in the creation of white and yellow pigments.
However, this particular class of lead compounds has only been found in studies modeling the aging of paints, and not in the old paintings themselves.
The distribution of lead formates suggests that it was more concentrated in some layers than in others and was associated with light colors.
The researchers found that Rembrandt mixed lead(II) oxide with his linseed oil paint medium to make the paints lighter and dry better.
Interaction with other molecules over time converted it into lead formates. It seems that even such great masters of painting as Rembrandt can get tired of this slowly drying paint.
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