Why "Night Watch" became the last commissioned work of Rembrandt, and because of what the artist became impoverished

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Rembrandt's Night Watch is the most famous and most significant painting in the Netherlands, and also the most popular group portrait of the era. There is an interesting theory that the canvas became the work that led to the fall and poverty of Rembrandt. Is it true?

The painting was commissioned in 1642 by the Shooting Society, eager to immortalize its participation in the parade on the occasion of the arrival of Queen Maria de Medici. The main idea of "Dozor" is to depict people in motion. The artist imagines the moment when the company is being built for the march.

At the command of Captain Kok (the central figure in a black jacket), the drummer (right) gives the signal to form. Each militia takes a weapon, the standard bearer proudly raises the standard. The dynamics are amplified by secondary scenes: a frisky dog barks, the drummer beats his big drum, getting ready to keep up with the marching shooters. On the left you can see a boy looking back and running away with a powder flask, somewhere one shooter fiddles with the muzzle of a musket, behind a richly dressed captain another shooter accidentally shoots from his musket … A lively and dynamic disorder. And who is this brilliantly lit girl dressed in gold with a dead chicken tied around her waist? It is likely that she is the symbol or talisman of the artist (her face resembles the face of the artist's beloved muse Saskia), and the chicken is the emblem of the arms of Banning Kok's shooters.

First screening of the painting

To reinforce the impression of a mass movement and the advancing masses, Rembrandt depicted not 17 shooters, but 28. Giving, on the one hand, more than he was ordered, he, on the other hand, annoyed his customers by the fact that he did not give at all what expected to receive. The painting cost 1,700 guilders (100 for each participant). Where are the portraits of 17 shooters who paid for the work? Not to mention the fact that most of them are unrecognizable, as their heads are obscured by the hands of the front shooters, hidden or cut by banners and guns. Rather than giving each person in the portrait the same meaning and depicting them to the fullest, Rembrandt created the equivalent of a snapshot: a group of shooters who have just started action and are going to march. One can imagine the horror when the picture was first shown.

When the Night's Watch is presented with great pomp to the Rifle Guards and their wives, the stunned silence is quickly followed by laughter from the wives and then by rage and indignation on the part of the men. Answering Rembrandt's question about what he thinks about the painting, the artist's friend and patron, as well as the philanthropist and collector Jan Six does not hold back: “I see nothing in this but shadows, darkness and confusion,” he replies with a big grin and then continues: "You don't expect us to take this as serious art, do you?" Moments later, Captain Banning Cock, who appears in the painting with his elegantly dressed lieutenant, flooded with light, tells the artist that his work is monstrous. The Rifle Guard ordered a group portrait. But Rembrandt defiantly violated all the generally accepted rules of portraiture.

Why isn't the Night Watch really night watch?

Finally, the "Night Watch" itself is not a night watch. In fact, the picture is called "Performance by the rifle company of Captain Frans Banning Kok and Lieutenant Willem van Reitenbürg", and this performance takes place in the afternoon. But due to the fact that over time the canvas became covered with soot and dirt, and the varnish darkened, art critics of the 18th century, who discovered it in the storerooms, decided that Rembrandt depicted the night.

Why was the "Night Watch" the last order of Rembrandt?

Rembrandt tried to remain a poet of light, even when processing a topic that requires the most appropriate and correct interpretation. After such a trick, Rembrandt ceased to exist for the Amsterdam society. You could find other artists who more objectively fulfilled their task.

The loss of his beloved wife Saskia was more difficult for the master of light than the prevailing composure of the public. From now on, he was alone in his workshop, where once the loud laughter of his beloved muse was heard. In fact, she died the year that The Night Watch - his most significant work - was completed. Titus, then just one year old, was the only of the couple's four children to survive to adulthood.

After The Night Watch, Rembrandt did not paint any more paintings for sale. Earning nothing, he spent, however, like Croesus. Yes, Rembrandt was a collector. He had a magnificent collection of works by Titian, Giorgione, Palma, the most precious old prints and even works of antique art. However, in Holland at that time it was extremely difficult to sell all these masterpieces, collected with such a delicate taste that the master possessed. Subsequently, Rembrandt had a common-law wife Hendrickje Stoffels (who bore him a daughter) and, it seemed, finally came a bright streak in life. However, numerous blows of fate (all of Rembrandt's property was put up for auction, there were no orders, the death of Titus's son from the plague, later the death of Hendrickje) completely destroyed his life. By the way, the death of his son was a major devastating blow, marked by personal tragedy and financial uncertainty over the past two decades. This is how Rembrandt became poorer, whom his marriage to Saskia and successfully completed orders made him a rich man.