By MIKE CORDER, Associated Press

AMSTERDAM (AP) — It didn’t exactly take dogged detective work for an art sleuth in Amsterdam to solve a canine conundrum dating back to the Dutch Golden Age.

Anne Lenders, a curator at the city’s landmark Rijksmuseum, said Tuesday that it was more or less by accident that she discovered that the barking dog in Rembrandt van Rijn’s famous “Night Watch” is a near-identical copy of one that features in a 1619 pen and ink drawing by fellow Dutch artist Adriaen van de Venne.

“I wasn’t looking for this; it was really unexpected,” Lenders said in the glass room where “Night Watch” is undergoing extensive restoration. • Art restorers work on Rembrandt’s Night Watch at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, Netherlands, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) • De

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