The Night Watch 1642 by Rembrandt van Rijn

The Night Watch 1642 by Rembrandt van Rijn
Year: 1642 | Medium: Oil on canvas | Location: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Also called Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, Rembrandt van Rijn’s 1642 painting The Night Watch is one of the best-known works in the Rijksmuseum’s collection in Amsterdam. Yet another famous oil painting on canvas, the work is an important one of the Dutch Golden Age. The Night Watch is popular for its giant size, the artist’s use of tenebrism (the dramatic use of light and shadow), and its depiction of movement.

It’s by mastering sunlight and shade, however, that Rembrandt directs viewers to his most important subjects: the two men in the center, and the woman with a chicken behind them, at the center-left.