The Städel Museum in Frankfurt, Germany, is undertaking a major conservation treatment of Rembrandt van Rijn's monumental painting *The Blinding of Samson* (1636). The project, expected to last three to four years, will address signs of aging and previous restorations, remove non-original paint, and create a historically accurate frame. The conservation follows a 2021 research seminar and technical studies published in the journal *ArtMatters*, which revealed previously unknown underdrawing techniques and adjustments to the artist's color palette and composition.
This conservation effort matters because it aims to restore the work to its original intensity while ensuring its long-term preservation, offering new insights into Rembrandt's creative process. The project is funded by the Bank of America Art Conservation Project and comes amid renewed scholarly attention on Rembrandt, including the Rijksmuseum's Operation Night Watch initiative, which recently uncovered a hidden dog in *The Night Watch*. The treatment underscores the ongoing importance of technical art history in understanding and preserving Old Master paintings.