Rembrandt_Art_Critique

Art Critique on “The Night Watch. The Night Watch is one of the most famous paintings of Rembrandt van Rijn. Rembrandt was a Dutch painter who lived from July 15, 1606 – October 4, 1669 and is considered the most important painter in Dutch history. The Night Watch can be seen in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It is one of their most famous paintings. Of all factors that make this picture so famous, there are three components that stick out the most: the way Rembrandt made use of drawing light and shadow, and the impression that there is movement in the painting, and finally, its humongous size. Looking at a print of the picture it seems kind of gloomy to me at first glance which is probably caused by the different shades of browns and gray that Rembrandt used to paint the background. Rembrandt uses sunlight and shade to direct the viewer to the people that seem to be very important in the painting. Those focal points are 2 males, Captain Cocq and his lieutenant and a small female in the middle of the left background. One of the men holds his left hand up in the air and has a sword in his other hand. This gives the impression that he wants to show the assembly of musketeers and militia around him, that he is ready to guide them on their way. The small female seems to move also. She looks at the leader and has an expression on her face as if she would like to join him on his way. The musketeers are loading their muskets and swing their swords. They seem prepared to go to war. The painting was allegedly ordered by Captain Coq and several of his civic militia guard associates. It is said they wanted to hang it in the banquet hall of the Musketeer’s Meeting Hall in Amsterdam. For a very long time the painting was caked with dark varnish. This dark varnish made viewers think that Rembrandt had painted it in a night setting. For this reason the picture received the name under which everybody knows it now. The varnish stayed on the painting until the twentieth century. It was removed around the 1940s. Because the picture was ordered work, the whole scene of soldiers getting ready to go to war was most likely just a stunt. Despite this point, with the illusion of mobility going on in the painting, Rembrandt created a really tangible scene. The grim, gloomy darkness, which was my first impression of the picture, could possibly represent the dark side of war; while the two males in the light might stand for the valor and purpose of military leaders to win the war and to help provide their followers with a brighter future. The symbol for a brighter future could be the small female in the bright colored outfit. During the years of its existence the Night Watch had many people ponder what its significance might be. Those assumptions reached a broad spectrum and went from political implications to even murder. Though we will never find out what Rembrandt really wanted the watcher to discover in his work of art, in my opinion the real beauty and the real mystery of the Night Watch lies in the fact that the true meaning of this painting lies entirely in the eye of the beholder.