List of Failed Business Ideas Found Beneath Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch”
An X-ray analysis revealed plans for backup careers in face painting and other pursuits beneath layers of paint in the Dutch Master’s magnum opus.
The Dutch Golden Age master Rembrandt van Rijn had doubts about committing to a career in fine arts, a new round of conservation on “The Night Watch” (1642) revealed. Researchers at the Rijksmuseum identified a handwritten list of failed business ideas on the raw canvas beneath the artist’s most famous work.
Using macro X-ray fluorescence, also known as MAXRF, scientists uncovered the collection of utterly foolish enterprise ideas underneath the surface. Some of the business proposals, including establishing a for-profit psychiatric institution for painters poisoned by their materials, were dated shortly after the artist opened his first-ever studio at the age of 19 in 1625.
Per the list, Rembrandt apparently also considered a career in face-painting at children’s birthday parties, opening an umbrella repair shop, making luxury combs out of fishbones, selling cross-bred dogs and goats as pets, and marketing himself as a foot portraitist to stand out.
“We have confirmed that the list was written in red chalk, which was among his preferred materials as a draughtsman,” Snacko Gibbetz, a researcher on the project, told Hyperallergic. “The penmanship is unmistakably that of Rembrandt’s as well — it possesses the same arrogant flourishes and exaggerated loops found in his written letters.”
In a statement, the Rijksmuseum noted that the staff and conservators working on “Operation Night Watch” were astonished by the discovery.
“The Dutch Golden Age was an era of commercial and maritime prosperity for the Republic, so it's very puzzling for us to see the artist consider such bizarre and pedestrian revenue sources,” a portion of the museum's statement read.
“I can't help but wonder if there was an incident — perhaps accidentally using his oils at a face-painting gig — that led him to abandon the list and go back into the studio for good,” Gibbetz added.
“It's a good thing he didn't go for the combs either," he left off, "because I don't think he knew how to sculpt worth a damn."
