Title: Night Watch (Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch)
Artist: Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 363 x 437 cm
Location: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn was 36 years old in 1642 when he painted Night Watch, more properly known as Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch. The huge oil painting, currently 363 x 437 cm, but originally far larger, was commissioned by the militia members depicted in it. Only those who contributed to the fee were included in the portrait itself, with the exception of the drummer-boy who was not required to pay. The names of the men who contributed are written on a shield near the top of the painting. A few additional characters were added by Rembrandt for effect.

Militia paintings were popular at the time, but typically were fixed compositions: company men might be lined in a row with their weapons, or depicted seated at a banquet table. In a departure from tradition, Rembrandt painted this guard in action: not yet marching, but in preparatory disarray. Originally eighteen named men were represented in the painting and no two gazes are fixed on the same spot. The militia men are busy talking, pointing, bending, and reaching.

The captain and lieutenant, in the right foreground, appear to be already moving forward. These two are painted in brighter colors—the captain sports a red sash and the lieutenant wears yellow–and illuminated by light from above. Though they are the focal point of the painting, these men appear off-center to further suggest action and movement, since the viewer’s eye seeks to pull them toward the center—the direction they appear to be moving anyway.

Similarly lit from above is the symbolic figure of a girl. This angel-like figure carries symbols of these militiamen, the Arquebusiers, named for the long barreled gun they carried. She holds the militia’s goblet and wears a pistol and dead chicken at her waist. The claws of the chicken specifically represent the “Clauweniers,” this regiment. Additional symbols are scattered throughout the painting: a helmet is decorated with the motif of the Arquebusiers, the oak leaf, and the lieutenant’s coat bears three crosses like the Amsterdam coat of arms.

Although today only a few militiamen can be confidently identified by name from the list on the shield, Rembrandt did carefully paint the guards to be recognizable through accurate depiction of their form and features as well as through their weapons and dress. The lieutenant, for example, traditionally carries a partisan, a spear with an extremely long shaft that is still carried by lieutenants in Dutch militia regiments today. The sergeant in Night Watch holds a halberd– a shaft which holds spear, blade and pick.

Night Watch was originally larger than it is today. It was painted to be displayed in the Great Hall of the Arquebusiers Hall in Amsterdam, along with several other commissioned portraits. In 1715 it was moved to the city hall and was cut down substantially in order to fit the wall space available there. The painting was moved again in 1817 to the first Rijksmuseum. In 1885 the national art collection was moved to its present building which features the painting in a place of honor in the Night Watch Gallery.

Title: The Return of the Prodigal Son
Artist: Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 262 x 206 cm
Location: The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia

The Return of the Prodigal Son is arguably Rembrandt Harmensz.van Rijn’s finest work; certainly it is the most famous from his late career. The painting depicts the Biblical story of the prodigal son from the book of Luke, Chapter 15. In the parable, the younger son of a wealthy father begs to be given his inheritance early. When his father gives it to him the young man leaves the family home and goes to a foreign country where he lives a life of dissipation, squanders his wealth, ruins his health, and finally is reduced to working as a swineherd. Eventually, the son sees the error in his ways and returns to his father, uncertain of his welcome, but humbling himself at the old man’s feet, and begging to be taken back into the family.

Significantly, the father forgives his son without hesitation and orders a fatted calf killed to celebrate his return. When the older son objects that his brother is to be rewarded for his faithless behavior, his father says:
“Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.”

Rembrandt has chosen to depict the family at the moment of the father’s forgiveness. In the father’s face we see of tender love and joy at the return of his son. The figures themselves, the frail, heavily-robed, old man bending over the kneeling figure of his tattered, balding, frail son, show Rembrandt’s great understanding of the human mind and spirit. The son’s face is not visible. In this primary pair, the emotion is all expressed in the father’s face and the eloquent lines of their figures.

In the background are several other figures: the brother stands directly behind the father; in the distant shadows is an upright woman in a hat. Beside the father and son are two other well dressed, men in dark hats, presumably visitors to the home. One squats beside the pair; another stands beside him, upright. Both serve as foils to emphasize the bent father, just as the upright figure of the brother contrasts with the penitent son.

Rembrandt’s use of light and shadow is masterful in this painting. The background shadows behind the primary figures hint at a large room and the well dressed woman barely visible lends mystery to the proceedings. Brightly lit against this darker background are the son’s golden garments and the ochre sleeves and scarlet shawl worn by the father.

The Return of the Prodigal Son was completed less than a year before Rembrandt’s death. It is now housed in St. Petersburg, Russia in The Hermitage.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a painter of great skill and created quite the collection to look back upon, but most people do not think of an artist for their work as a whole, but rather for those remarkable pieces of work that leave an imprint. Among some of Rembrandt’s more famed pieces of work are his Night Watch, Belshazzar’s Feast, Bathsheba at her Bath, Self Portrait (1658) and The Jewish Bride.

It is impossible to talk about Rembrandt’s art without bringing up his most famous painting: The Night Watch. It is ironic that his most famous painting is also misnamed, its original title being The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq. However, it was unpopular during its time and after being rediscovered a century later was named as we know it due to the dimmed color of the picture, caused by weathering and poor condition. After its restoral it became evident that the image portrayed in The Night Watch was actually taking place in daylight.

Rembrandt made his claim to fame early in his life painting large, dramatic religious and mythological scenes in the Baroque style. Accordingly, works like Belshazzar’s Feast, which takes its subject matter from the Bible, is pointedly dynamic and rich in color. Paintings like Belshazzar’s Feast remain known as examples of a period of time in his life where he was inspired and influenced by Baroque artists such as Peter Paul Rubens.

Among his famed paintings preserved at the Louvre in Paris is Bathsheba at her Bath, yet another of his paintings that takes its material from the Bible. It is a calmer painting than much of his prior work, moving away from the Baroque technique and making something more contemplative and tragic. It is considered Rembrandt’s finest example of nude painting and was also his last.

Another of Rembrandt’s most famous works was his Self-Portrait from 1658. He did many self-portraits, but this one in particular evidenced his style and talent in the later era of his life, when he was drawing a great deal of inspiration from the works of Titian, the Italian Renaissance painter. This inspiration led to his works being larger and broader in brushstroke, with calmer imagery in the many self-portraits he compiled in his last twenty years of life.

The Jewish Bride is another of his more famed works, perhaps not so much because of the composition, but because of the controversy regarding who is pictured. Popular theory ranges from Biblical figures such as Isaac and Rebekah from the Book of Genesis to other couples from the Old Testament such as Abraham and Sarah. Some also believe that the couple pictured could be Rembrandt’s son Titus and his wife. It should also be noted that The Jewish Bride was painted in the twilight of Rembrandt’s life and may have reflected a spiritual exploration of love or religion.

Given the breadth of work to examine and the varying talent of the artist, it is never a simple matter to say what the most famous work of an artist may be, as many works exemplify different aspects of his life and career. These are but a few of his most celebrated and well known paintings, revered today as works of a true master.