Operation Night Watch

In 2019 the Rijksmuseum began the most thorough study of the painting ever attempted, called Operation Night Watch. Scientists scanned every inch in a glass enclosure right in the gallery, streaming the work live so anyone could watch. Using those scans and the old Lundens copy, researchers even produced a digital reconstruction of the trimmed edges — letting the full 1642 composition be seen again for the first time in three centuries.