When I was in middle school, every student had to take a semester of music and a semester of art before they could take any other electives unless they kept to either music or art for their entire middle school career. I didn’t know if I would like music, but I knew I wouldn’t like art, because I could not draw worth a diddle, and my color choices didn’t bode well for water color exercises.
Not surprisingly, I chose two semesters of chorus, and planned to sing the rest of my middle school career . . . until for some reason I decided I wanted to take typing – now known as keyboarding. It was a wise choice since I’m on the keyboard everyday, but to get into typing class, I had to face art class. We had exciting projects. One was to hold your left hand in front of your face and without looking down at the paper, draw the hand. That went about as well as you might expect, and my grade wasn’t looking too good.
But, it was possible to earn extra credit by doing an oral report on an artist and his [It was his back then.] work. So, off I went to the library and found an illustrated book about Rembrandt. Not only did it have basic information on Rembrandt’s life and career. It had a two-page illustration of his famous painting: Night Watch. The picture was black and white, but I could still hold the book up and hide behind the it.
My recent visit to Amsterdam gave me the opportunity to visit the Rijksmuseum and view Rembrandt’s famous painting in person while observing current restoration efforts.
Commissioning Rembrandt’s Night Watch
In 1638, Amsterdam was a center of art, science, and commerce. The city was at the height of its Golden Age when, over objections from the seat of government at The Hague, Amsterdam invited the exiled Marie de Medici for an official visit. The city hoped to broker an understanding with France so that Marie could be reconciled with her son Louis XIII. This did not work out, but the visit was an overall success from Amsterdam’s perspective.
Marie’s visit from August 31 to September 5, 1638 was a six day celebration with accompanying pageantry. Although it rained the entire time, a full complement of Amsterdam’s militias, known as Kloveniers, escorted the exiled queen throughout the city. Marie took her meals at the Amsterdam Admiralty. However, her entourage convened on the first floor of the Klovenier’s Great Hall. Borrowed tapestries covered blank walls for the duration of Marie’s visit. Afterwards, the militias decided to cover the halls with large group portraits of the six city militias.
Traditionally, such group portraits gave each subject equal attention. This seemed fair, since each member of the company contributed to the cost of the portrait. This is the militia company of District VIII under the command of Captain Roelof Bicker by Bartholomeus van Der Holst. The images are posed, static, and do not detract from identifiable members of the group.
In 1639 Captain Frans Banning Cocq and seventeen members of his militia commissioned Rembrandt to paint their group portrait. Each member contributed towards Rembrandt’s fee with Captain Cocq and his lieutenant, Willem Van Ruytenburch, contributing the largest amounts. The painting’s projected dimensions were 12 feet by 14.5 feet, too large for the artist’s studio. Rembrandt probably completed the painting in a lean-to located in his garden.
Rembrandt’s Vision
Rembrandt did not paint a traditional group portrait. On the contrary, he used light and dark hues to create the picture of a militia in action.
The time of day is dawn. Captain Cocq gives Lieutenant Ruytenburch the order to move out with a gesture of his hand. Militia members get into formation; an ensign carries the company colors on the left. Men check their weapons. The drummer prepares to beat for action.
The most important figures—the figures with the most light—are Captain Cocq, Lieutenant Ruytenburch, and a young girl. Cocq’s clothing denotes his status. He has a lace collar, black attire made from fine fabric, and a sash and baton to denote his rank. Cocq’s lieutenant turns toward him to acknowledge the commander’s orders. His own attire is the same pigment of yellow artists used to paint lemons in still lives. His jacket features fine embroidery. Both men are the epitome of wealthy merchants.
A shadow by the drum outlines a dog. Over time, the top layers of the figure were lost due to abrasion of the paint leaving only the light sketch beneath the paint.
The girl is an enigma. Was she a real person or a symbolic mascot? Experts compare her face to that of Rembrandt’s wife Saskia who died in 1642 from tuberculosis. A dead chicken with large claws hangs from her belt. A pistol called a clover is beneath the chicken. The claws and clover were symbols of these “Kloveniers,” and generally depicted as a golden claw on a blue field.
In 1715 the city moved Rembrandt’s painting to a venue at the Town Hall that was smaller than its place in Great Hall. The painting’s size was trimmed on all four size to fit the space.
In the late 18th century, people began calling Rembrandt’s painting Night Watch. The painting was covered with a dark varnish, and no longer bore any resemblance to dawn. Today the official title of Rembrandt’s painting is Civic Guardsmen of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Bannick Cocq. It’s much easier to refer to Rembrandt’s painting as Night Watch.
Operation Night Watch
In July 2019, the Rijksmuseum embarked on a massive restoration project called Operation Night Watch. Researchers began mapping Rembrandt’s painting layer-by-layer and pigment-by-pigment, using high resolution digital photography, x-rays, fluorescence analysis, and spectroscopy. Rather than removing the painting from public viewing, the Rijksmuseum made the entire process a public display.
Among other discoveries, the process has revealed Rembrandt’s original sketches beneath the paint as he tried out different ideas, and the types and pigments of the artist’s paints.
Gallery of Honor
The Night Watch is housed in its own gallery at the end of the Gallery of Honor on the second level of the Rijksmuseum. It creates the impression that the entire history of Dutch painting in the Golden Age led to this one master piece.
Night Watch was one of the last portrait paintings of its kind in terms of scale, and by the late 18th century militias played an increasingly less prominent role in Dutch life.
I didn’t enjoy my middle school art class, but the extra credit report I did on Rembrandt introduced me to the world of art. I will always be grateful for that introduction.
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Sandra’s Books: Sea Tigers & Merchants. Ambition, Arrogance & Pride. Saxon Heroines. Two Coins. Rama’s Labyrinth.
Illustrations & A Few Sources
Rembrandt Self-Portrait in a Flat Cap, 1642; Arrival of Maria de Medici in Amsterdam by Salomon Saver; District VIII under the command of Captain Roelof Bicker by Bartholomeus van Der Holst, 1643; Night Watch Restoration by Rembrandt by Vbena; Detail: Girl in Night Watch; Night Watch Restoration, Photo by Author. Richard Whiddington.”Revealing the Secret History of Rembrandt’s ‘Night Watch.'” Artnet. “Operation Night Watch.” Rijksmuseum.
