For two weeks, a hand-held Laser Speckle Imaging device analysed The Night Watch from just a few centimetres away. This project marks the transition from research to restoration of the famous painting.

About two years ago, we wrote about a ‘modified medical technique’ (Laser Speckle Imaging) that Wageningen researchers used to peer into the exciting world of drying paint. This technique has now come of age within the start-up company NanoMoi, founded by CEO Jesse Buijs. As proof of the practical potential of the technique, an extensive analysis of the painting Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, ‘The Night Watch’, has just been carried out, with the aim of making a scientifically sound decision on cleaning methods.