Type
Partner Project
Collaborative project
Start
2016
Status
Active
Rembrandt’s drawings from some of the world’s most important collections are focus of the cross-domain research project ‘Drawing out Rembrandt’. Due to technical developments, it is now possible to integrate laboratory research with historic studies to discover the past, present and future of his beautiful drawings.
Since 2017 much progress has been made as a result of fruitful cooperation with many colleagues and substantial in-kind contributions of project partners. Technical advances like high-resolution photography, macro-XRF imaging, multi-modal forensic imaging, and cross-domain data fusion allow for visualisation and analysis of hitherto concealed features of ink and paper. Interpreting those in the context of a better substantiated understanding of historic drawing tools and materials resulted in new insights into Rembrandt’s practice as draughtsman.
Modeling color physics of paper, ink and white paint provides new insights into the drawing process and likely original appearance of Rembrandt’s drawings.