The Night Watch, Rembrandt van Rijn

The Night Watch

The militia in this painting was the Kloveniers, named for their old fork-rested muskets. Their badge was a clawed bird, a pun on the Dutch klauwen, claws. Rembrandt painted the company's heraldic symbol as an actual dead chicken hanging, claws first, from the belt of a small ghostly girl who walks through the formation. Now at Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam @rijksmuseum

Artist
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 to 1669)
Date
1642
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
379.5 × 453.5 cm
Collection
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Image
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain