The Night Watch by Rembrandt (Great Art)

THE NIGHT WATCH (Rembrandt van Rijn; Dutch; 1642)

One of the most famous paintings of the Dutch Golden Age is the work we call The Night Watch. It is huge: 12 x over 14 feet. (The formal names for it are equally huge.) It features what photographers call "Rembrandt lighting" and painters call "tenebrism," with strong light-and-shadow. Its figures seem to be in motion, an unusual element in a "group photo." Rembrandt also used a "spotlight" effect to single out the three most important figures: two men in the foreground  (a captain and his lieutenant, named in one version of the title), and a woman behind them bearing symbols of their military unit (named in another).

• The work is formally called Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, OR The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch.

---

Navigation:

• View this post on Facebook or Instagram
• Go to the Mini-Lessons Index

(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)