
Rembrandt's The Night Watch hasn't always had the dimensions its creator intended.
In 1715, the enormous painting was moved to Amsterdam's Town Hall.
It didn't fit properly in its new location.
Instead of rebuilding the space, sections of the painting were cut away from all four sides.
The largest losses occurred on the left side, removing several figures from Rembrandt's original composition.
The missing pieces have never been recovered.
However, another artist had previously made a smaller copy of the complete painting.
Using that copy and artificial intelligence, the Rijksmuseum created a reconstruction showing what the missing portions probably looked like.
For centuries, millions of people have therefore been looking at an incomplete version of Rembrandt's original composition.
© Rijksmuseum