Rijksmuseum neural networks restore The Night Watch's strips

AI system

System: Artificial neural networks trained on The Night Watch and the Lundens copy (Rijksmuseum, Robert Erdmann)
Model: Not assessed
Release: Not assessed
Application developer: Rijksmuseum (Robert Erdmann)
Role: Not assessed
Configuration: Not assessed
Inputs and outputs: Not assessed
Autonomy: Not assessed
Workflow: A contemporaneous copy showing the lost sections. High-resolution imaging of the original. Neural networks trained to map the copy's style to the original's.
Human oversight: Not assessed
Relation to AI: The neural networks generated the pixel content of the missing strips in Rembrandt's style from the Lundens copy. The copy's existence and curatorial choices were preconditions.
AI contribution: The neural networks generated the pixel content of the missing strips in Rembrandt's style from the Lundens copy. The copy's existence and curatorial choices were preconditions.

Benefits

Outcome identifiers: Not assessed
Benefit: Rijksmuseum used neural networks to reconstruct The Night Watch's 1715-trimmed edges, displayed complete from 23 June 2021.
Category: Improved Knowledge Discovery
Status: Not assessed
Beneficiary groups: Society. Organizations.
Beneficiaries: Not assessed
Reach: Not assessed
Distribution and access: Not assessed
Duration: Not assessed
Expected?: Yes
Costs and harms: Not assessed

Measurement

Studies: Not assessed
Study design: Not assessed
Measurement: Not assessed
Setting and sample: Not assessed
Measures: Not assessed
Comparison: Not assessed
Results: Not assessed
Additional value from AI: Not assessed
Limitations: Not assessed
Denominators: Not assessed
Materials for replication: Not assessed

Money

Kind of value: Not assessed
Amount: Not assessed
Currency and prices: Not assessed
Period and unit: Not assessed
Realization: Not assessed
Recipients and payers: Not assessed
Gross or net: Not assessed
Included costs: Not assessed
Comparison: Not assessed
Method: Not assessed
Return and payback: Not assessed

People and places

Participants: Developer: Rijksmuseum (Robert Erdmann). Operator: Rijksmuseum.
Jurisdictions: Benefit: Amsterdam, Netherlands. Developer: Netherlands. Operator: Netherlands.
Ownership and control: Not assessed
Dependencies: Not assessed
Cross-border connections: Not assessed
Geopolitical implications: Not assessed

Follow-up

Conditions for replication: The copy is reliable for composition. The museum presents the output as reconstruction, not original.
Replication attempts: Not assessed
Later findings: No later development found; the press release only says the reconstruction would stay on display for the coming months.
Availability: Not assessed
Institutional decision: Not assessed
Grounds: Not assessed
Action and result: Not assessed
Success criterion: Not assessed

Evidence

Source numbers: AIBD-0041-source-0001–0002
Citations: Numbered references below.
Language: Not assessed
Source relationships: Developer, Independent
Original evidence: Not assessed
Access and versions: Not assessed
Supported findings: Not assessed
Evidence links: Not assessed
Evidence strength: Not assessed
Missing evidence: Not assessed

Grades

Assessed benefits: Society. Organizations.
Depth: Society: 1. Organizations: 1.
Reasons: Society: Visitors could see the composition complete for the first time in 300 years; a cultural benefit from a temporary display. Organizations: The museum gained a research-based reconstruction and a public exhibition.
Observed or intended: Not assessed
Rubric: Not assessed
Assessor and date: Not assessed
Alternative assessments: Not assessed
Fill: Independently reported

Entry details

Kind

Not assessed

Related entries

Both are generative neural networks producing imagery of a seventeenth-century Dutch master painting for the viewing public; the incident showed Google users an AI fabrication of Girl With a Pearl Earring as the artwork.

Field

Cultural heritage / museums. Art conservation and display.

Purpose

The networks were built specifically to reconstruct the trimmed sections from the Lundens copy; the display was that purpose.

Dates

Date basis unassessed: 2021 (precision unassessed). Updated: 21 October 2026.

Stage

Not assessed

Version

SHA-256: b8b62b5b855f…

References

Other identifiers: AI Incident Database: 554.
Category mappings: Not assessed
Brief: Not assessed
Revisions: 5 revisions. Latest: 21 October 2026.

Sources

News report Independent author

Bishara H (24 Jun 2021). See Rembrandt's 'The Night Watch' in Its Entirety, Thanks to AI Restoration. Hyperallergic.
Press release Developer

Rijksmuseum (23 Jun 2021). For the first time in 300 years The Night Watch is complete again. Press release (operating institution's statement).