Its most famous nickname is wrong on the most basic level. This isn't a night scene at all, and it was never meant to be one.
What you're looking at
Rembrandt painted this group portrait of a militia company in 1642, led by Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, shown here giving the order to march. According to the Rijksmuseum, which holds the painting, it was commissioned as a daylight scene. Over centuries, layers of darkened varnish built up over the surface, and by the time people were viewing it under that grime, it had earned the nickname "Night Watch." Cleaning later revealed the bright daytime scene underneath, but the nickname had already stuck for good.
A giant canvas, cut down to fit a wall
The original painting is enormous, 3.6 by 4.4 meters, with figures shown at close to life-size, thirty-four of them caught in one burst of movement and light. No one had painted a group portrait quite like it before. Look for the glowing girl near the captain: she's the militia company's mascot, and a dead chicken hangs from her belt, its claws serving as the emblem of the Kloveniers, the musketeers' guild the company belonged to.
In 1715, the canvas was actually cut down to fit between two doors at Amsterdam's town hall, and two figures on the edges were lost for good in that trim. High on the arch above the group, a shield lists eighteen names, the militia members who each paid to be included in the portrait. The drummer, by contrast, got in for free, hired specifically to pose for the picture.
One detail to look for
Look for the captain's hand and the shadow it casts across the lieutenant's gold coat beside him. Rembrandt uses that single shadow to prove, within the painting itself, exactly how strong and direct the daylight really was.
See it at its real size
The original is wall-sized, so every print we offer is honestly marked as a Room Edition. Shop the canvas print.