AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS — “The Next Rembrandt” has been unveiled: a 3D printed artwork made solely from data of Rembrandt’s body of work. The new work brings the touch of the renowned painter back to life to create one more portrait. Only this time, data is the painter, and technology the brush.

The idea for the work was conceived as part of an advertisement for ING Bank, who worked with advertising agency J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam, Microsoft, advisors from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), The Mauritshuis and Museum Het Rembrandthuis.

The portrait depicts a man in black Seventeenth Century clothing with a white collar and a hat. The piece was created using data from Rembrandt’s total body of work using deep learning algorithms and facial recognition techniques. The portrait consists of over 148 million pixels, based on 168,263 painting fragments from Rembrandt’s oeuvre.

Once Rembrandt’s body of work was analyzed and reduced to data, the researchers were able to identify trends and construct an image. They then used a 3D printer to ‘paint’ the work with 13 layers of UV-based ink.

Blurring the boundaries between art and technology, this artwork is intended to fuel the conversation about the relationship between art and algorithms, data and human design, and technology and emotion.

The work will be exhibited in the future at an undetermined location.

For more information, www.nextrembrandt.com.