The Night Watch, the most famous painting in the Rijksmuseum, actually has another title: the 'Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch'. The picture is a militia painting: a group portrait of a division of the civic guard. Rembrandt depicted the group of militiamen in an original way. He did not paint them in neat row or sitting at their annual banquet, rather, he recorded a moment: a group of militiamen have just moved into action and are about to march off.
The names of the eighteen militiamen portrayed in the painting are on a shield above the gate. A company comprised more members, but only those who paid were included in the group portrait. The drummer was hired and was therefore allowed to be in the painting for free. Rembrandt added the others to enliven the painting. Three people on the left of the picture disappeared in the eighteenth century when part of the canvas was cut off. We are now only able to match a few names to the faces in the portrait.
But where are they going? Although the militiamen in the Night Watch may appear to be positioned at random, Rembrandt has constructed the composition with great care. The drawing shows the positions and movement of the figures through the space, seen from above. The militiamen are coming out of the gate and moving towards us. The captain and the lieutenant form the vanguard, with two men directly in their wake. The man who is shooting behind the captain and the two girls are walking from left to right, crossing the line of movement of the militiamen.
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