Rembrandt · Public domain
Dutch Golden Age · 1606–1669
Rembrandt
Rembrandt van Rijn · Netherlands
Painter and printmaker
Widely regarded as one of the greatest painters in Western art, he left some 300 paintings, 300 etchings and hundreds of drawings, covering portraits, self-portraits, landscapes and biblical scenes. He never left the country; he made his name young as a portraitist but in later life suffered the deaths of loved ones and financial ruin. The Night Watch (1642) is his most famous work. He died in Amsterdam in 1669 and was buried in a rented grave in the Westerkerk.
Where the story happened
Los lugares que dejó
Historia · Rijksmuseum
The Night Watch is not actually a night scene
Rembrandt's huge painting, completed in 1642, is officially called 'Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq'. For a long time it was covered in dark varnish, making people think it showed a night scene — hence the name 'The Night Watch'. When it was moved into Amsterdam's town hall in 1715, it was trimmed on all four sides to fit the wall, and the cut pieces have never been found; in 2021 the Rijksmuseum used artificial intelligence to reconstruct the missing parts from an early copy, displaying them for three months.
