The Night Watch by Rembrandt van Rijn Postcard

The Night Watch by Rembrandt van Rijn, oil on canvas 1642, is an enormous portrait painting of an entire military company renowned as one of the greatest paintings of the Dutch Golden Age. Originally titled The Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch, the painting imaginatively foregoes the traditional static lineup of figures of group portrait painting and casts an entire militia in dynamic motion, arming themselves and raising their colors, preparing to march forth. The picture’s restoration and removal of darkened varnish in the 20th century revealed that the scene depicts the company stepping forth into bright sunlight from a shadowy courtyard. Rembrandt dramatically deploys his famous chiaroscuro effects to reveal form emerging from darkness, which combined with the painting’s realism, uncanny sense of motion and colossal scale with life-sized figures made The Night Watch one of the most famous paintings in all of Western art. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606 - 1669) was a Dutch painter and printmaker born in Leiden and active in Amsterdam during the height of the Dutch Golden Age of painting. Rembrandt apprenticed briefly with the painter Pieter Lastman before opening his own studio, where he went on to create many portraits, paintings and prints with Biblical, mythological and historical themes. Enjoying great success and fame as a portraitist and history painter, the artist experienced personal and financial hardships after the death of his wife, Saskia. Universally revered as one of the greatest painters and printmakers in Western art, Rembrandt is known for his deep empathy for the human condition. Rembrandt forged his innovative, painterly technique in his own observations of human life and deep study of classical art, the Renaissance, and the form and expression of the human figure.