Speakasso › Paintings › The Night Watch
The Night Watch
Rembrandt, 1642
A group portrait of Amsterdam militiamen under Captain Frans Banninck Cocq. Such portraits normally lined everyone up politely; Rembrandt sets the company in motion instead, loading muskets, beating a drum, a dog barking, someone sounding a horn. At the centre the captain in black gives an order to his lieutenant in yellow, while a luminous little girl with a chicken at her belt steps out of the crowd. The nickname came only in the eighteenth century, when darkened varnish had turned day into night. Cleaning revealed the scene takes place in daylight.
What is in the painting
- Black and yellow. At the centre a man in black with a red sash beside a companion in bright yellow.
- Glowing girl. Left of centre, a small girl in a golden dress is lit more brightly than anyone.
- Banner and pikes. A blue-and-gold banner rises over the crowd amid pikes and gun barrels.
Did you know? In 1715 the canvas was trimmed on all sides to fit a wall in the town hall; two figures and part of a bridge vanished from the left edge.
About the painting
- Artist
- Rembrandt (1606–1669)
- Year
- 1642
- Style
- Baroque
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Size
- 379.5 × 453.5 cm
- Where to see it
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
How to describe it in Speakasso
In Speakasso you describe the painting in your own words and an AI draws it again. These words are forbidden in this round — each one costs 15 points:
A description that scores high
A crowd of armed men in old-fashioned clothes spills toward us out of a dark archway. At the center, a captain in black with a red sash strides forward beside a lieutenant dressed in bright yellow. Left of center, a small child in a glowing golden dress is lit more brightly than anyone. Pikes, long guns and a blue-and-gold banner rise above the crowd. Deep brown shadows, dramatic spotlight glow, rich old oil painting.
The tricky part: Call her a small child in a glowing golden dress just left of center, and call the firearms long guns.
The method behind it: what is painted first, then where things are, then colour and light, then the style. Read the full guide
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