The Next Rembrandt
ING
Issue 39 | June 2016
Agency
J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director Bas Korsten Concept Bas Korsten, Robert Nelk Mark Peeters Creative Art Guney Soykan Creative Copy Bas Korsten Kasia Haupt Canning Tech Lead Emanuel Flores Design Vinesh Gayadin Digital Director Jesse Houweling Strategy Agustin Soriano Developers Morris Franken Ben Haanstra 3D Artist Andre Ferwerda Editor Tim Arnold Photographer Robert Harrison Screen Producers Frederique van der Hoeven Mariska Fransen Print Producer Chariva Geurts Website Production Superhero Cheesecake Special Advisor Jeroen van der Most Film Production New Amsterdam Film Company Executive Producer Sander Verdonk
Production Team
ING Director Of Communications Johan van der Zanden Head Of Sponsoring Tjitske Benedictus Teamlead Internal & External Communications Marc Smulders Senior Marketing Communications Manager Mirjam Smit Sponsorship Manager Culture Eline Overkleeft Event Manager Marleen Hasselo Social Media Specialist Thijs Jaski
Other Credits
Microsoft, Director Small And Midmarket Business Ron Augustus Microsoft Azure Lead Erik-Jan van Vuuren Product Marketing Manager Niels Lohuis Corporate Communication Manager Yvette Lansbergen Marcom Manager Eva de Vries Solution Architect Ruben Pool
Date
April 2016
Background
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 - 1669) was considered one of the world's greatest painters and a key figure in Dutch history, representing the Golden Age of painting in the Netherlands. A prolific artist, he was known to have produced 346 paintings as well as numerous drawings and etchings.
Idea
On April 5th 2016, what looked like a perfect portrait by Rembrandt was unveiled to a specially invited audience in Amsterdam. What made the picture remarkable was that it was a composite Rembrandt, made using the data collected from scanning and analyzing every image the painter had created in his life. Consisting of some 148 million pixels, the portrait of a man was created using deep-learning algorithms and facial recognition technology.
It took a team of data scientists, engineers and art historians 18 months to make. The subject of the picture was a demographic distillation of all the subjects who had ever sat for Rembrandt, a white male in his mid-thirties with a beard and wearing black clothes, a white collar and a hat.
Technology was also able to faithfully mimic the kind of brushstrokes that the artist used when he worked before an advanced 3D printer created the final image with 13 separate layers of UV-ink arranged one on top of another to replicate the texture of a 17th century masterpiece.
The result was a piece that bridged art and technology, bringing to life the power and beauty of data in order to fuel conversations about where innovation might lead.
Results
Not known yet.
Our Thoughts
We like this. Most corporate sponsorships (especially by banks) of museums are like wallpaper: rarely noticed, rarely absorbed by the punters. Bringing a sponsorship alive, getting it noticed, and making it relevant to today is hard work. And that's before you try to align the sponsor's values.
This works triumphantly. Apart from the 'wow, that's clever' factor, it reflects the values a bank like ING – a pillar of the Dutch economy – would like to portray.
They include a nod to, and reverence for, the past, allied to the clever use of data and technology to innovate and support, if not drive, creativity. There's also a strong collaborative feel to this, allying partners as varied as J. Walter Thompson, Microsoft and academia.
And there's a hint of daring. After all, if you're going to mess with Rembrandt, it better be worth it.
Definitely worth a visit to the Rijksmuseum next time you're in Amsterdam.
You can see the film of the painting at www.nextrembrandt.com