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The Night Watch, the most famous painting in the Rijksmuseum, actually has another title: the ‘Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch’.
The picture is a militia painting: a group portrait of a division of the civic guard. Rembrandt depicted the group of militiamen in an original way.
He did not paint them in neat row or sitting at their annual banquet, rather, he recorded a moment: a group of militiamen have just moved into action and are about to march off.
- Source: Rijksmuseum, The Night Watch
The Night Watch, which depicts the Kloveniersdoelen militia, was completed in 1642.
The enormous painting was cut down on all sides — possibly in 1715 — when it was moved from a room in the Kloveniersdoelen (located on the spot now occupied by the NH Doelen Hotel) for which it was painted to the town hall in Amsterdam (the building that is now the Palace at Dam Square).
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It is not clear when the painting earned the nickname, The Night Watch — but we do know why the name stuck. Over the years the painting’s coat of varnish had darkened to the point where the daylit scene could easily be mistaken for a night scene.
The varnish was removed during the 1940′s, but the name remained popular.
How much is The Night Watch worth?
There is no ‘market’ for a painting like The Night Watch: it will never be sold. Therefore, it is impossible to attach a monetary value to this work.
In 1642 the members of the civic guard paid Rembrandt approximately 1,600 Dutch guilders.
The company was a municipal institution, which is why The Night Watch now belongs to the city of Amsterdam. The Rijksmuseum has the painting on loan, and thus was not obliged to pay anything for it
- Source: Rijksmuseum, FAQ
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