2 minute read
The Night Watch
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
The Painting
The Nig ht Wat ch or The Sho otin g Com pan y of Fran s Ban ning Coc q (Dut ch: De Nac htwa cht) is the com mon nam e of one of the most famo us wor ks by Dutc h pain ter Rem bran dt van Rijn. The pain ting may be mor e prop
Source: http://commons.wiki media.org
Rembrandt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons erly title d The Com pany of capt ain Fran s Ban ning Cocq and lieut enan t Will em van Ruyt enbu rch prep arin g to marc h out. The Nigh t Wat ch is one of the most famo us pain tings in the worl d. The pain ting is reno wne d for three elem ents: its colos sal size (363 x 437 cm ~ 11 ft 10in x 14 ft 4in), the effec tive use of light and shad ow (chia rosc uro), and the perc eptio n of moti on in what wou ld have been , tradi tiona lly, a stati c milit ary portr ait. With effec tive use of sunli ght and shad e, Rem bran dt lead s the eye to the three most imp orta nt char acter s amo ng the crow d, the two gentl eme n in the centr e (fro m who m the pain ting gets its origi nal title)
, and the smal l girl in the centr e left back grou nd. Behi nd the m the com pany
's colo urs are carri ed by the ensi gn, Jan Viss cher Corn eliss en.
The Artist
Rem bran dt Har men szoo n van Rijn (Dut ch: 15 July 1606 [1] –4 Octo ber 1669 ) was a Dutc h pain ter and etch er. He is gene rally cons idere d one of the great est pain ters and print mak ers in Euro pean art histo ry and the most imp orta nt in Dutc h histo ry. His cont ribut ions to art cam e in a peri od of great weal th and cultu ral achi eve men t that histo rians call the Dutc h Gold en Age whe n Dutc h Gold en Age pain ting was extre mely proli fic and inno vativ e. Havi ng achi eved yout hful succ ess as a portr ait pain ter, Rem bran dt's later year s were mar ked by pers onal trage dy and fina ncial hard ship s. Yet his repu tatio n as an artist rema ined high. Rem bran dt's great est creat ive triu mph s are exe mpli fied espe ciall y in his portr aits of his cont emp orari es, selfportr aits and illust ratio ns of scen es from the Bible . In his pain tings and print s he exhi bited kno wled ge of class ical icon ogra phy. Beca use of his emp athy for the hum an cond ition , he has been calle d "one of the great prop hets of civili zatio n."
