The Night Watch Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq
Also titled De Nachtwacht
Rembrandt van Rijn (Leiden, 1606–1669)
1642
- Medium
- canvas, oil paint (paint)
- Classification
- painting
- Dimensions
- height 379.5 cm x width 453.5 cm x weight 337 kg x weight 170 kg
- Museum
- Rijksmuseum
- Credit line
- On loan from the City of Amsterdam
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
About this work
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 background. She was the company mascot.
