(piano music)
- [Voiceover] We're in the Rijksmuseum
on an early Sunday morning in order to avoid
the crowds that gather in front
of Rembrandt's most famous work,
in fact, probably the most famous painting
in the Netherlands.
This is Rembrandt's The Night Watch.
- [Voiceover] It's a group portrait,
and this is a type of painting
that was very specific to the Dutch Republic
in the 17th century.
- [Voiceover] This is a painting of one
of the militia groups of Amsterdam.
Now militia groups were meant to defend the city,
but by the time Rembrandt paints this,
they were largely ceremonial.
- [Voiceover] Right, they took part in processions,
and parades, and festivities relating
to the city, and they symbolized civic pride.
- [Voiceover] In fact, one had to pay dues
in order to be a member, and it was always
a leading citizen that would head it up.
- [Voiceover] Right, we're looking at a group
of elite citizens of Amsterdam.
We should say it was hung with other
group portraits of militias in the hall
where they would meet.
- [Voiceover] And I think this probably
really stood out.
- [Voiceover] Well look at how it stands out
in this gallery.
- [Voiceover] Unlike earlier examples,
which generally have a kind of even light
and are very much like the kind of
class portrait you would have in your grade school,
here we have people who seem to be
in the act of coalescing around an action.
- [Voiceover] Right, the captain is giving
an order for the militia to gather
and move forward, and he's giving that order
to his lieutenant.
There is a sense in which the portrait function
has been played down.
- [Voiceover] Rembrandt has decided to impose
a kind of hierarchy on the figures.
In other words, in most group portraits
there would be even light
and there would be even attention to each face,
and generally even handling of each figure.
Now there may be figures that are placed
in the foreground, figures that are placed
in the background, in fact,
there might be different prices that each
of those sitters paid for that honor,
but here the two men in the foreground
are clearly most important.
- [Voiceover] Well they're flooded with
a beautiful Baroque light that's so dramatic.
In fact, the captain's hand casts a stark shadow
on the amazingly beautiful uniform worn
by his lieutenant.
So those fluctuations of light and dark
do make this very different
from a typical group portrait.
- [Voiceover] This is a Baroque painting,
not only in the handling of light,
but also in the sense of the momentary,
in the kind of compositional diagonals
that are defined by the spears that are held,
by the banner in the upper left,
activating the scene.
- [Voiceover] Well Hals is also bringing
a sense of informality and movement
to the genre of the group portrait,
but Rembrandt is engrossing us in a narrative.
- [Voiceover] Well for example,
we see three moments in the use of a long gun.
On the left, you see a man who's loading his firearm.
This is a precursor to the musket,
actually to the rifle.
In the center, you see somebody whose legs
are bracing and is in the process of shooting,
and you can just make out the smoke
from the barrel that gets a little bit confused
with the rather smoky feathers
of the lieutenant's hat.
Then on the right side, you have somebody
blowing out the used powder from his pan.
- [Voiceover] Art historians believe
that these images are in some part
derived from a manual about using
this kind of firearm.
This was very much a source of pride
for this militia group.
This was their weapon,
they practiced it in a field nearby,
and they're shown using it.
But there's so much else going on.
There's a dog barking,
there's someone playing the drums,
there's someone raising the standard
of the militia.
There's that girl striding forward
who's puzzled art historians for a while.
- [Voiceover] Actually, if you look closely
you can make out that there are two girls,
one behind the other, but the one that's
most evident we think of as a kind of mascot.
If you look closely, in her beautiful dress
she's got a dead chicken that's been hung
upside down from her belt,
the claws very prominent.
That refers to the name
of this particular militia group.
- [Voiceover] So here we are in this room
filled with group portraits,
and I have to admit that when I look around
at the Frans Hals, they're beautifully painted,
incredibly informal and lifelike,
but I find myself caring less.
I don't know the people in the portrait.
I can sort of put myself back and imagine
the citizens of Amsterdam in the early 17th century
who did know these figures, but somehow
I find myself caring about the story
and getting involved in the story
of The Night Watch.
- [Voiceover] We can look at the Frans Hals
and admire his brush work,
the innovations of his composition,
the way in which he takes great risks
in terms of this tradition of the group portrait,
but Rembrandt transcends that category
of painting and makes this something
where we care about the figures,
even if we've lost their identity.
- [Voiceover] With the Hals, they're not filled
with as much movement.
- [Voiceover] Rembrandt is bringing in the lessons
of Caravaggio, he's bringing in the lessons
of the Italian Baroque, but we have to remember
that we're seeing this painting differently
than somebody in Rembrandt's era
would have seen it.
For one thing, the painting was cut down
when it was taken out of the militia hall.
So we're seeing it not only having lost its top
and its sides, but actually somewhat off center.
- [Voiceover] It would have been
much more readable.
There are two figures from the left
that are missing.
The very top of that arch
and some architectural space above are missing.
- [Voiceover] And the banner, for example,
did not reach the top of the painting.
- [Voiceover] It's a little illegible, I think,
to us for these reasons.
- [Voiceover] And it's also important
to remember that the painting wasn't
originally called The Night Watch.
It was much more specific and referred
to the militia that it's representing.
- [Voiceover] And the captain who leads it.
- [Voiceover] It got that title in the 18th century
after the painting had darkened considerably
and it was no longer evident
that it was a daytime image.
- [Voiceover] Although it is still dark,
the figures do come out of that darkness
in the tradition derived from Caravaggio.
- [Voiceover] It still comes out of that
Tenebristic tradition of the Italian Baroque
and all of the mystery and drama
that that imparts.
There was another addition to the painting as well.
If you look carefully, you see a large shield.
That was actually added after most
of these men had passed away
in order to remember who these men were.
- [Voiceover] When you look toward this painting
as you enter this gallery and you see
the people standing in front,
the painting is so lifelike that it almost
looks as though the figures here
are interacting with the people
who are standing in front of it.
- [Voiceover] Well look at the amazing
foreshortening, for example, of the weapon
that the lieutenant is holding,
the way in which that moves into our space.
- [Voiceover] Or the rifle held by the figure
in red, or the captain's hand that comes forward.
There's foreshortening everywhere as we move
our eye across the canvas.
- [Voiceover] But it really has to do
with the separateness of each person's
involvement in what they are doing
and the way in which they're all being
called to order, that moment of transition.
This is a painting that allows us to see
that complex moment when people are moving
from their individual thoughts
into a formation.
The gallery is already filling up.
We'd better stop.
(piano music)