To promote ING bank's sponsorship of arts and culture, we channeled their innovative spirit and
resurrected the great Dutch painter Rembrandt to create a new painting—centuries after his death.
resurrected the great Dutch painter Rembrandt to create a new painting—centuries after his death.
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If you've got two minutes to spare, the case film explains it all:
The Next Rembrandt is a 3D printed painting made completely out of data derived from Rembrandt’s body of work. Partnering with Microsoft and various technical and art advisors, we created a computer system that studied the great Master's oeuvre. Those learnings were applied to generate features of a never before seen man, exactly in the style of Rembrandt's paintings.
Then an algorithm reconstructed a face and bust out of the new features, according to Rembrandt's use of geometric proportions. Height and texture information from 3D scans of his paintings was pulled into the file, and the final image was printed in thirteen layers of paint-based ink on a 3D printer.
Then an algorithm reconstructed a face and bust out of the new features, according to Rembrandt's use of geometric proportions. Height and texture information from 3D scans of his paintings was pulled into the file, and the final image was printed in thirteen layers of paint-based ink on a 3D printer.
The campaign was launched with the unveiling of the new painting in Amsterdam, where Rembrandt lived, worked, and is buried. There, it was exhibited to the public and press, alongside informational materials that explained the creation process of The Next Rembrandt.
In the launch film, the developers tried to explain months worth of coding in a way that could be understood by regular human beings.
The website pulled users deeper into the technical side of the project, and it was honored as an FWA and Awwwards Site of the Day.
The project sparked a global discussion about art and humanity vs. data and technology. News outlets around the world picked up the story, with everyone from BBC News to Channel 7 in Detroit talking about The Next Rembrandt.
