Rembrandt van Rijn - The Night Watch (1642)

Painting:

TITLE: De Nachtwacht (The Night Watch)

This painting was completed in 1642, at the peak of the Dutch Golden Age when paintings were not titled. It was not given the name “Night Watch” until the 18^th century. Unfortunately, both "Night" and " "Watch" are wrong. The civic guards who are depicted had, by the time Rembrandt painted them, become quite pacific; living during a relatively peaceful time in Dutch history and were more of a fraternal organization than real crime fighters or cops. It was no longer necessary for them to defend the ramparts of Amsterdam or to go out on watches by night or by day. Their meetings had been diverted chiefly to social or sporting purposes; it is said that the particular destination in the painting for these guardsmen, is perhaps to march into the streets to take part in a parade."Night" is even less apt than "Watch." When the critics and the public attached that word to the painting, the canvas had become so darkened by dirt and layers of varnish that it was difficult to tell whether the illumination Rembrandt had provided in it came from the sun or moon. Not until after the end of World War II (1945) was the painting fully restored so that the viewer could get an idea of the brightness it had when it left Rembrandt's hand more than 300 years before. The title “Night Watch” has been kept out of familiarity. The painting may be more properly titled The Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch.

The very men who are portrayed in the painting commissioned “The Night Watch”.

This depicts Captain Frans Banning Conq and his company inside a large vaulted hall, which was used for their guild meetings. The city civil guards were comprised mainly of volunteers. Their tasks were to maintain order within the city walls, act as a fire brigade and in times of war to defend the city against enemy attack. They were an organized association under the patronage of a saint. The members had to provide for their own uniforms and arms. The guards would practice their skills at shooting on the Doelen (a field outside the city walls on the east). Amsterdam had become a prosperous and fast growing city. It benefited greatly from the Eighty Years War (1568-1648). Although Amsterdam was rich, it also ment there were plenty of poor. The city’s authorities prevented the poor from becoming members of the guards by ruling that every guard had to earn an annual income of 600 guilders or more. Nevertheless, the city’s authorities were regularly faced with complaints about disorderly behaviour in public by drunken civil guards, as they were notorious for their parties. Membership of one of civil guards companies meant social prestige and political power for the merchants from the second district of Amsterdam. 18 members of the guards under the command of Frans Banning each paid Rembrandt 100 guilders to become immortalized in paint. The two officers, Banning and Ruijtenburch, probably paid more.

Apparently, the company of Captain Frans Banning Conq was a merry band of comrades, they were very proud of their achievements as they had commissioned other paintings of themselves by other artists. In this way, we may think of the Night Watch as a magnificent class photo. Doubtless the guardsmen expected a group portrait in which each member would be clearly recognizable, although perhaps

not of equal prominence; it was often the practice for less affluent or junior members of a group to be represented only by heads or partial figures, for which they paid less than did those who were portrayed full length. Each member paid one hundred guilders for a total of 1,600 guilders for the commission of the painting (converts to the purchasing power of $51,793 USD in 2010). Many of the archer's guild who gave Rembrandt the commission would not pay their share because their faces were not plainly seen.

This painting is known for 3 KEY ELEMENTS:

1. Its SIZE (11’10” x 14’4”)

2. Use of LIGHT and SHADOW (chiaroscuro)

3. Perception of MOTION

SIZE: Rembrandt painted “The Night Watch” on a scaffold in the back yard of his home, because it was too big to lean against a wall of one of the rooms in the house. (13’x16’) It was also painted solely by the master himself without the help of one of his many pupils.

LIGHT & SHADOW: "The Night Watch" is a masterful work of chiaroscuro, or light into dark, that gives what might be a boring class picture a lot of drama and movement. Light can be seen throughout this picture, but is brightest at the center. Diagonal lines from the lances and banners help further move the eye to the center of the work where two figures Captain Banning Conq (in black and red) and his lieutenant, Willem van Ruijtenberg (yellow) are emphasized with light and color. The shadow of the officer’s hand falls across from the left. The light, which comes from very high, unseen windows at the left falls unevenly in shafts on the other figures in the picture. Several, including a young woman and drummer, are brightly illuminated, while others are barely visible in the shadows. Rembrant was skilled in handling light for dramatic effect (a main characteristic of the Baroque style). He regulated and manipulated light-opening or closing the shutters in his studio-for his own purpose, which was to create an atmosphere both dreamlike and dramatic.

MOTION: Rembrant took a radical approach to the group portrait (militia companies were usually portrayed in static ranks facing the viewer, somewhat like a school class photograph) by dramatizing the scene by picturing a moment when the order has just been given for the guardsmen to get organized to go out for a parade. It was by far the most revolutionary painting Rembrandt had yet made, transforming the traditional Dutch group portrait into a dazzling blaze of light, color and motion, and subordinating the requirements of orthodox portraiture to a far larger, more complex but still unified whole. There is a flurry and bustle of activity; some men are loading their muskets, some shoulder their spears, the drummer beats his drum, and the leaders stroll forward towards the viewer. The effect on the viewer is direct; he feels that he had best get out of the way. In the midst of this commotion, two boys and a little girl in a sparkling yellow dress scamper about and a small dog dances with excitement.

Rembrandt organized all this random activity and movement with the subtle manipulation of color harmonies, light and compositional accents. The main color harmonies of red and yellow draw the attention immediately to the two central foreground figures. These colors are repeated in the red uniforms of the two musketeers flanking the central figures and in the yellow dress of the little girl. Lances, swords, and muskets held aslant are further unifying devices, providing diagonal accents across the composition.

Artist:

Rembrandt Harmenszoon (son of Harmen) van Rijn

(July 15, 1606 – October 4, 1669)

Rembrandt was a Dutch Artist, born in Leyden, Holland.

His father, Harmen was a miller and added the words ‘van Rijn’ to the end of his name as an illusion to his mill near the Rhine River, and his mother, was a baker’s daughter, they were respected members of the lower middle class. They had nine children (only 4 lived to maturity). Rembrandt was the ninth child born to his parents and the fourth living child. It was determined that he should be a learned man and they gave him a superb education so he could belong to one of the honoured professions, such as law. At 7 years old, Rembrant was sent to the Latin School in Lendyn and in 1620 (when he was 14 yrs old) he was enrolled in university. A year after beginning university however, he was allowed to forsake the academic world and enter a 3-year apprenticeship to Jacob van Swanenburgh who was a mediocre artist who taught Rembrant the skill of etching. Rembrant probably learned more of the basics of his craft from Pieter Lastman a far more competent and cosmopolitan artist with whom he studied with later, this is when he began painting biblical scenes as Lastman studied in Italy.

This is a self portrait of Rembrant with his wife Saskia van Ulenburg. She was the daughter of an aristocrat, who was refined and rich. He met her through her cousin, who was an art dealer who had ordered Rembrandt to paint a portrait of his dainty cousin. Rembrant and Saskia lived in a home on the quay of the River Amstel in Amsterdam. They had four children, three of which died shortly after birth. In 1641 they had a fourth child, a son, whom they called Titus (1641-1668). Saskia died soon after in 1642.

In 1645, Hendrickje Stoffels, (who had initially been Rembrandt's maidservant), moved in with him. In 1654 this brought him an official reproach from the church for 'living in sin'. In that same year the couple had a daughter, Cornelia. Rembrandt lived above his means, buying lots of art pieces, costumes (often used in his paintings) and rarities, which caused his bankruptcy in 1656. He had to sell his house and move to a more modest accommodation on the Rozengracht. Here his wife Hendrickje and son Titus started an art shop to make ends meet. Rembrandt's fame waned in these years, only be restored in later years. Rembrandt outlived Hendrickje and his son Titus. In the end only his daughter Cornelia was at his side. He died October 4, 1669 in Amsterdam, living in poverty and was buried in an unknown grave in the Westerkerk (one of the oldest churches in the Netherlands)

This is the house where Rembrandt lived between 1639 and 1658, it is now a museum. Built in 1606 it is a house of brick and cut stone, four stories high. The purchase price of the home in 1639 was 13,000 guilders, (converts to the purchasing power of $411,732 USD in 2010), this was a huge sum of money, which he could not come up with in its entirety. He was, however, allowed to pay it off in installments. His income was rather large for those times. He was a most industrious worker, then painting forty pictures in a year. He was famous for painting Landscapes, Portraits and Biblical Scenes. He has 50-60 Self-portraits. Here are a few of them:

For his half-length portraits he received five hundred guilders, for his scriptural subjects as much as 1,200 guilders. Rembrandt was unable—or unwilling—to pay off the mortgage. This was eventually to bring about his financial downfall. Between 1652 and 1656 Rembrandt made frantic attempts to get his hands on money to pay off his debt. He did not succeed and was forced into bankruptcy. In 1656 Rembrandt’s property was inventoried for the benefit of his creditors, and his household effects and collection of art and curiosities were sold. The house was auctioned in 1658 and fetched something over eleven thousand guilders. Rembrandt moved to a small rented house on the Rozengracht, where he lived until his death in 1669.

Who is in it?

The militiamen in the Night Watch were called Arquebusiers after the arquebus, a sixteenth-century long-barrelled gun. Rembrandt worked the traditional emblem of the Arquebusiers into the painting.

01. Captain Frans Banning Cocq (dressed in black, with a red sash) – He eventually became burgomaster (mayor) of the city of Amsterdam for the first time in 1650, he studied law in France and married Maria Overlander (from the rich Banning family) She was the only surviving child of Volckert Overlander – merchant, ship owner, knight, one of the founders of the Dutch East Trading Company and burgomaster of Amsterdam. Upon his father-in-laws death, Banning Conq inherited his properties north of Amsterdam, along with the title of Lord of Purmerend and

Ilpendam.

02. Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch (dressed in yellow, with a white sash) – Lesser in rank than Frans Banning Conq, but his wealth is stressed by the richness of the yellow color of his clothing. He came from a family of storekeepers. In 1642, he became a schepen (councilor). He owned a place on Herenracht in Amsterdam and his family bought an estate near the city of Vlaardingen.

03. Musketeer loading his weapon - wearing a helmet with an oak leaf, a traditional motif of the Arquebusiers.

04. Ensign (flag) bearer, Jan Visscher Cornelissen - the company's colors are carried by him. He would be a main figure at the ceremonies and parades, therefore had to be young, strong and handsome. Because of the vulnerable position of flag-bearer in times of war he was also requested to remain a bachelor. Jan Cornelisz Visscher never married. He came from a rich merchant family. He lived with his mother and grandmother at the Nieuwezijds Achterburgwal spending his family’s fortune on books and art. He was a bachelor with a passion for art and

music. He died in 1650 at the age of forty, without ever having been near a battlefield and having lived a life of leisure.

05. Sergeant Rombout Kemp – he was a merchant in linen, the dean of the Dutch Reformed Church and regent of the poorhouses of Amsterdam. As befitted his social position in society, he is dressed in black with a white collar.

06. Drummer, Jacob Jorisz

07. Boy

08. Girl in yellow dress with chicken - Rembrant’s wife, Saskia died in 1642 and her features are painted on this girls face. She is carrying the main symbols and is a mascot herself:

the claws of a dead chicken on her belt represent the clauweniers (arquebusiers);

dead chicken is also meant to represent a defeated adversary.

the pistol behind the chicken stands for 'clover';

she is holding the militia's goblet.

The color yellow is associated with victory. (Holand’s Victory over the Spanish)

09. Musketeer

10. Herman Wormskerck – merchant in linen
11. Jacob Dircksen de Roy - one of the early governors of the city’s theater
12. Musketeer
13. Musketeer
14. Musketeer
15. Eldest Musketeer
16. Sergeant, Rijer Engelen - Merchant in linen

17. Musketeer
18. Musketeer
19. Musketeer
20. Musketeer in conversation with Kemp (05)

Rembrandt painted himself as well in this scene. A part of his face emerges behind the shoulder of the pikesman on the back of the painting who holds up his pike. Pointing towards Sergeant Rombout Kemp. Rembrandt seems to be standing under the archway on his toes, trying to have a better look at his own painting.

Current Location:

The Night Watch was commissioned for and first hung in the Kloveniersdoelen, the headquarters of the civic guardsmen, and in 1715 it was moved to the Amsterdam town hall, but no doubt for reasons of space, the painting was cut down on all four sides. The greatest loss was on the left, where a strip about two feet wide, containing three figures, was removed.

In 1817 the Night Watch was moved to the newly opened Rijksmuseum Museum and is where it is still located today. The painting has only once been removed from its present location and that was during the Second World War, when it was rolled up and stored in a bunker. It is a large painting taking up the entire back wall - and is arguably one of the most impressive paintings displayed there.

The prized quality of the Nightwatch has made it vulnerable to attack, to date there are three incidents of vandalism. January 13, 1911, a disgruntled Navy cook named Sigrist, angered by his discharge from the service, went into the Museum and badly slashed the masterpiece with a knife. He said he vandalized the painting as an act of vengeance against the state for discharging him. In 1975, the worst vandalism occurred, was slashed with a butter knife by a psychic leaving large pieces of canvas lying on the museum floor. It took about 6 months to restore the painting. In 1990, a man attacked the painting by throwing acid on it, but thanks to quick and adequate reaction from the guards the damage was limited to just the varnish. (The same man who did the 1990 attack cut and severely damaged a Picasso in another Amsterdam museum in January 2004).

The Rijksmuseum National Museum

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Rembrandtplein Square

The city renamed a square, in Amsterdam after Rembrandt in 1852, it is now called Rembrandtplein, it has a statue of the Netherlands' most famous artist, Rembrandt van Rijn, commissioned by sculptor Louis Royer.

In 2006, the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt's birth, the city added to the square 22 bronze figures that make up a three-dimensional replica of the artist's most famous masterpiece, The Night Watch.

I really hope I have the chance to walk through this life size replica of this painting that I have now learned WAY TO MUCH about.