Night Watch (painting)

Night Watch or The Night Watch (Dutch: De Nachtwacht), (French: Patrouille de Nuit) is the common name of one of the most famous paintings by Dutch painter, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn , famous for the Chiaroscuro style of painting.

The painting may be more properly titled The Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch. It is on display quite prominently in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and is its most famous painting.

Title

It was not the practice to title paintings back then, but the title seems to appropriately reflect the content. The following description appears next to a drawing of "De Nachtwacht" in the family album of Banning Cocq: “De jonge heer van Purmerland als Capitein geeft last aan zijnen Lietenant de heer van Vlaerdingen om sijn compaignie Burgers te doen marcheren” (literally: The young lord Van Purmerland as Captain gives order to his Lieutenant the lord Van Vlaerdingen to march his company Civilians.”).

Key elements

The painting is famous for three elements, its colossal size (see below), the effective use of light and shadow, and finally for the perception of motion in a traditionally military portrait scene. Like most of Rembrandt's works, it is best viewed from a distance.

This painting was completed in 1642, at the peak of the Netherlands' golden age. It depicts the eponymous company moving out, led by Captain Banning Cocq (dressed in black, with a red sash) and his lieutenant, Willem van Ruytenburch. With effective use of sunlight and shade, Rembrandt forces the eye onto the three most important characters among the crowd in the painting, the two gentlemen in the centre (from whom the painting gets its original title), and the small girl in the centre left background. Behind them the company's colours are carried by the ensign, Jan Visscher Cornelisen.

The militiamen were also called Arquebusiers after the Arquebus, a sixteenth-century long-barrelled gun.

Rembrandt has displayed the traditional emblem of the Arquebusiers in the painting in a natural way: the girl in yellow dress in the foreground is carrying the main symbols. She is a kind of mascot in herself: the claws of a dead chicken on her belt represent the 'Clauweniers'- Arquebusiers; the pistol behind the chicken stands for 'clover'; and, she is holding the militia's goblet. The man in front of her is wearing a helmet with an oak leaf - a traditional motif of the Arquebusiers. The dead chicken is also meant to represent a defeated adversary. The colour yellow is often associated with victory.

Alterations to original

For much of its existence, the painting was coated with a dark varnish which gave the incorrect impression that it depicted a night scene, leading to the name by which it is now commonly known. This varnish was removed only in the 1940s. A part of the painting on the left was also cut off during the 18th century, which also removed three characters.

A 17th century copy of the painting then by Gerrit Lundens at the National Gallery, London shows how it looked originally.

Painting's commission

It is said to be commissioned by the Captain and 17 members of his civic militia guards Kloveniers, and although 18 names appear on a shield in the centre right background, the drummer was hired, and so was allowed in the painting for free. A total of 34 characters appear in the painting. Rembrandt was paid 1,600 guilders for the painting (each person paid one hundred), a lot of money then. This was one of a series of seven similar paintings of the militiamen commissoned during that time under various artists.

The painting was commissioned to be hung in the banquet hall of the newly built Kloveniersdoelen (Musketeers' Meeting Hall) in Amsterdam. Some have suggested that the occasion for Rembrandt's commission and the series of other commissions given to other artists was the visit of the then French Queen Marie de'Medici in 1638. Even though she was escaping at the time from her exile from France by her son, Louis XIII, her arrival was met with great pageantry.

Location

It was first hung in the Arquebusier's hall the Kloveniersdoelen in Amsterdam in the 'Groote Zaal', Great Hall. This is now known as the Doelen Hotel. In 1715 it was moved to the Amsterdam town hall, for which it was altered. When Napoleon occupied the Netherlands, the town hall became the Palace on the Dam. The magistrates moved the painting to the Trippenhuis of the family Trip. Napoleon ordered it back, but after the occupation the painting was moved to the Trippenhuis again, which had now become the Rijksmuseum, and was moved to the new Rijksmuseum building when it was finished in 1885.

Trivia

The Night Watch in 3D at the Rembrandtplein in Amsterdam is a bronze-cast representation of the famous painting.

"Nightwatch" is the official name given the United States Air Force Boeing E-4B command and control aircraft. A modified Boeing 747, the "Nightwatch" is designed to give the President an airborne base of operations in the event of a national crisis or nuclear conflict. The aircraft was named after the Rembrandt painting by the first commanding officer of the 1ACCS (Airborne Command and Control Squadron).

The Cover of Terry Pratchett's novel Night Watch is an homage to, or parody of, this painting

The work has inspired musical works in both the classical and rock traditions, including the second movement of Gustav Mahler's 7th Symphony, the lyrics of King Crimson's The Night Watch by Richard Palmer-James, and Ayreon's The Shooting Company of Captain Frans B. Cocq from The Dream Sequencer.

External links

The Night Watch at the WebMuseum
Night Watch At the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Rembrandt's Night Watch^*

Rembrandt paintings | 1642 paintings | Collections of the Rijksmuseum

Louvre | Museum collections