The Night Watch

Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, known as the "Night Watch", by Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1642). "Rembrandt's so-called Night Watch, the master's largest and most celebrated work (11 3/4 by 14 1/4 ft.), painted in 1642 for the Kloveniers-Doelen at Amsterdam. It represents Captain Frans Banning Cocq's company of arquebusiers emerging from their guild-house (‘doele') on the Singel. The scene is laid in a lofty vaulted hall lighted only by windows above, to the left (not visible to the spectator), an arrangement probably specially adapted to the original position of the painting as it is to its present position. In the middle, in front, marches the captain in a dark brown, almost black costume, at his side lieutenant Willem van Ruitenburg in a yellow buffalo Jerkin, both figures in the full sunlight, so that the shadow of the captain's hand is distinctly traceable on the jerkin. On the right hand of the captain are an arquebusier loading his weapon and two children, of whom the one in front, a girl, has a dead cock hanging from her girdle (perhaps one of the prizes). On a step behind them is Ensign Janisser Cornelissen. The other side of the picture is pervaded with similar life and spirit, from the lieutenant to the drummer Jan van Kamboort at the extreme corner, who energetically beats his drum. In an oval frame on a column in the background are inscribed the names of the members of the guild. The remarkable chiaroscuro that on bright sunny days usually prevails in imperfectly lighted interiors is here reproduced with so much poetic fancy that it was long supposed that Rembrandt intended to depict a nocturnal scene. The peculiar light and the spirited action of the picture elevate this group of portraits into a most effective dramatic scene, which ever since its creation has been enthusiastically admired by all connoisseurs of art. – Each guild member represented paid 100 fl. for his portrait, so that, as there were originally sixteen in the group, the painter received 1600 fl. for his work".--Baedeker 1910. IMG_3550p1