Night Watch
Rembrandt van Rijn
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Alternate file
Alternative Title
Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq
Date
1642Description
Detail, Captain Frans Banninck Cocq (left) gestures to Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch (right); Rembrandt’s largest, most famous canvas was made for the Arquebusiers guild hall. This was one of several halls of Amsterdam’s civic guard, the city’s militia and police. Rembrandt was the first to paint figures in a group portrait actually doing something. The captain, dressed in black, is telling his lieutenant to start the company marching. The guardsmen are getting into formation. Rembrandt used the light to focus on particular details, like the captain’s gesturing hand and the young girl in the foreground. She was the company mascot. Source: Rijksmuseum [website]; www.rijksmuseum.nl/en (accessed 6/22/2015)
Type of Work
painting (visual work)Subject
military or war, portrait, Netherlands-- History-- Eighty Years’ War, 1568-1648, civic militias, Seventeenth century, Baroque
Rights
Rights Statement
Licensed for educational and research use by the MIT community only