The Dynamics of The Night Watch
1st: home; 2nd: The Night Watch Chaos.
Many articles describe The Night Watch in microscopic detail: its canvas, pigments, trimming, restorations, and Rembrandt’s biography. Modern imaging allows us to zoom into the painting at near-atomic resolution:
lots of pixels, but little personage.
Far less has been written about how and why Rembrandt combined his individual sketches of these civic guards (wealthy men dressed in vintage finery) into a snapshot of a highly dynamic event.
Beyond its chiaroscuro, The Night Watch is unique for its movement. Rembrandt broke with the tradition of static militia portraits by introducing multiple conflicting actions and overlapping moments in time.
The musket firing in the center is incompatible with the marching and drumming.
Two girls run down the steps toward the captain of arms, who is descending with a massive two-handed sword held only in his left hand, using his right for balance or self-defense to protect him from the musket fire in font of him.
The first girl, carrying an expensive crystal goblet, is about to trip over the fork rest of the musketeer who has just fired.
The two leaders stride toward the illuminated center. A musketeer beside them blows on his glowing wicks, not paying any attention to what happens around him. Behind them, the pikeman lifts his lance, blocking several others.
The sergeant on the right advances with his halberd in attack position. The ensign has just swung his enormous flag; a pose that makes descending the steps nearly impossible.
Meanwhile, the sergeant on the left sits calmly on the bridge, waiting for the rear guards to pass. Behind him, an unknown musketeer holds his gun at rest. He is not going anywhere.
A musketeer in red walks forward while loading gunpowder — ignoring every safety rule in Jacob de Gheyn II’s 1607 weapon manual. Rembrandt knew de Gheyn’s work well; he painted a portrait of de Gheyn’s son in 1632, a painting that later became the most stolen artwork in history.
Many stances in The Night Watch match de Gheyn’s illustrations, though Rembrandt freely altered them. With his own father Harmen having lost the use of a hand while preparing a musket, Rembrandt may have used this commission to comment on the militia’s sloppy technique, or simply to amuse himself at the expense of these wealthy amateurs acting a militia play.
What happens after Rembrandt's snapshot?
Seconds later, the two girls trip over the musketeer’s fork rest and crash into the descending captain of arms. He loses balance, collides with his raised broadsword with the musketeer blowing his wicks, and topples into the guards advancing from the right.
The pikeman swings his lance inward. The dog flees.
On the left, the gunpowder boy narrowly avoids being struck by the musketeer in red, who spills powder everywhere.
Rembrandt minimized further disaster by omitting the burning wicks that the musketeer should have held between his fingers.
This musketeer in red has just stepped down with his left foot; his right foot is about to land on an object on the floor. Is it a glowing char cloth, an apple, a ball? Did Rembrandt place it there to hint at a possible stumble?
A full chain-reaction collision would have produced an entirely different kind of artwork.
Only the seated sergeant on the left and the drummer on the right remain safely in place.
From behind the ensign and shield bearer, Rembrandt watches the chaos he orchestrated.
A private joke at the expense of these status-conscious millionaires.