Finding people at weddings, in markets, and even scooting past them in the street, Dutch photographer Julius Rooymans has created a replica of Rembrandt's masterpiece The Night Watch. In a project taking eight months, the photographer has sourced modern Dutch people with the perfect historic beards and faces, recreated helmets and artefacts with the help of a 3D printer and skilled costume makers, and created NachtWacht360. One one side, his photograph replicates the famous Night Watch – considered Rembrandt’s most ambitious artwork and a national treasure – and on the reverse he uses the same models to reveal uglier truths about Rembrandt’s 17th century life. ‘He translated reality into art, and we have translated art into reality,’ says Rooymans, whose work was created with fashion designer Hans Ubbink and goes on display at the Rijksmuseum today. ‘The back is like the background of Rembrandt, who had a hard life even though he was an artist: his wife died, he went bankrupt, life was precarious and the position of women was far from ideal’. Rooymans has recreated a fuller image of the Night Watch, which lost a large strip on its left-hand side when it was moved into the town hall – now the Royal Palace on Dam square – and didn’t fit through the doors. His version includes three new models, based on a small painting of the original Night Watch, and is also somewhat lighter because curators believe the painting has darkened after being varnished multiple times. ‘It’s such an iconic work, on coffee cups, bags…it isn’t just a painting any more,’ he told DutchNews.nl. ‘We wanted to come at how he interpreted it with modern techniques: what he did was the Facebook of the era, the polished face. We wanted to tell a story of the time, a deeper story of poverty.’' So his verso side includes rats, shattered glass, beer being drunk instead of foul water, and women in a madhouse. The project is one of 575 artworks to be accepted into the exhibition Long Live Rembrandt – starting on Rembrandt’s birthday on 15th July and running until September 15th – in the Rijksmuseum. There, meanwhile, Rembrandt’s iconic representation of the defenders of Amsterdam is currently being restored, live, in a giant glass box. Rooymans' and Ubbink's project is a gigantic effort which also sheds light on the mastery of the original, according to Pieter Roelofs, head of paintings and sculpture at the Rijksmuseum. ‘This is a beautiful project on which Julius and Hans worked carefully and accurately,’ he told DutchNews.nl. ‘From the costumes to the metalwork, everything is as true to life as possible. Only by looking and by making can you see how amazingly well the Night Watch actually works. The Night Watch was originally larger, so it was even better that they reproduced this too.’ Taco Dibbits, general director of the Rijksmuseum, said the display, Long Live Rembrandt shows how much the work still resonates. ‘We asked the public to be inspired by Rembrandt and thousands of people sent something,’ he said. ‘Some are football clubs or police squads that have re-enacted the Night Watch. It’s great to see that it’s a painting that’s so alive amongst the public.’  More >

Summer is set to return by the end of the week, with parts of the country touching 30 degrees as the school holidays get into full swing. Weather bureau Weeronline said the temperature would rise by a degree or two every day from Monday, when most parts were cloudy with 17 or 18 degrees. Schools in the Midden region are the last to break up for the summer this year on Friday. The Noord region finished last week and the Zuid schools have been on holiday since July 6. Warmer, brighter conditions will move in from the south, raising the thermometer to 20-22 degrees on Tuesday and to around 25 degrees by Thursday. Inland regions will reach 26-28 degrees at the weekend, while the early days of next week could take some areas past the 30 degree mark. However, cloudy spells and showers are also expected and there is a chance of thunderstorms on Saturday.  More >

Officials in Amsterdam wants to restrict the number of snack bars and fast food joints near schools in an effort to reduce obesity rates among the city's children. A campaign launched in 2012 helped reduced the percentage of too-heavy children in the Dutch capital from 21% to 18% over a three-year period but the decline has since halted. Now alderman Simone Kukenheim plans to take further action to improve the health of the city's school going children. She wants to introduce a 'healthy belt' around schools without snack bars to prevent children filling up on chips and sweets during their breaks, the Parool reported at the weekend. Kukenheim hopes new zoning legislation which will come into effect in 2021 and which aims to ensure a 'safe and healthy physical environment' will help reduce the number of snack bars near schools. 'We are researching how these new rules can be used to encourage a healthier supply of food,' the alderman said. The city has also recently expanded the number of water fountains in the city to encourage children to ditch fizzy drinks. Minister The alderman has appealed to health minister Paul Blokhuis, urging him to get tougher on the sugar, salt and fat content in food. She also wants him to clamp down on the way unhealthy food is marketed at children. Socio-economic status and cultural background also play a role in childhood obesity and the problem is largely confined to poorer parts of the city and among immigrant communities. The 2012 campaign included advising schools to ban fruit juices, and unhealthy treats for at birthday celebrations and introduced a ban on fast food sponsorship of council events involving children. Amsterdam already bans cannabis cafes, or coffeeshops, from being within 250 metres of a school.  More >