4º sarai & noelia the night watch

THE NIGHT WATCH REMBRANDT

Sarai Pico Suรกrez Noelia Freire Fernรกndez 4ยบ ESO A

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Table of contents 1. Author’s Biography…………………………………………….…………. Page 3 2. The Night Watch………………………………………………….………. Page 4 2.1. Description ………………………………………………...…… Page 4 2.2. Personal Judgement……………………………………….….. Page 5 2.2.1 What we see…………………………………...……… Page 5 2.2.2 The story behind ……………………….………….…. Page 5 2.3. Expert’s Interpretation…………………………….…………… Page 6 2.4. Light………………………………………………….………….. Page 6 2.5. Colour………………………………………………….………... Page 6 2.6. Symbolisme ………………………………………….………… Page 7 3. Bibliography…………………………………………………………….… Page 8

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1. Author’s Biography Rembrandt was a famous painter who was born on July 15th 1606, in Leiden, Netherland. He studied in elementary school and in Latin school in Leiden. He finished his Latin studies, but he was removed to school early to focus himself in his really vocation: to be a painter. He studied in the University of Laiden, and he had two important teachers, one of them from Laiden and the other one from Amsterdam. His first works, like The Storning of Saint Stephen were influenced by Pieter Lastman, the Amsterdam’s teacher.

In 1625 he opened a workshop with Jan Lievens. This workshop had a big acceptation. Rembrandt’s art developed from shining colours to chiaroscuro.

In 1630, his father died and he moved to Amsterdam. In this place, he met Hendrick van Uylenburg, and he married his daughter, Saskia. The next years were very calm and prosperous. This good life was interrupted in 1642, when his wife died. In this year, he painted ‘The Night Watch’, but this work hadn’t got a good acceptation in that moment. This was another factor that collaborated to his depressed moment.

In 1656 he made an auction because of his economic problems. Those problems were resolved when Hendrickje Stoffels took charge of his only son, Titus van Rijn.

Rembrandt had a romantic relationship with her, but they didn’t get married because he had already fallen in love with Saskia.

Rembrandt died on October 4th 1669, in Amsterdam, Netherland.

This baroque painter, was remembered for his numerous portraits and many other works like The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulps, in 1632; The Night Watch, in 1642; and Syndic of the Drapers Guild, in 1662. He also left many drawings, close to 1500, and etchings, more or less 400.

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2. The Night Watch 2.1 Description (Formal analysis, Formal qualities.)

In this art work, we can see a company directed by captain Frans Banning Cocq and lieutenant Willen van Ruytenburg. In our opinion, main characters are illuminated girl and two men who are in the foreground.

The first character we will describe is the man on the right. He’s wearing brown leather boots, a pair of beige breeches with bright ornaments, gold trousers, white shirt and gold jacket with a white belt . Around the neck, he’s wearing part of an armor, named ‘Gola’. He is also wearing a gold hat with two big feathers.On his left hand, he is holding a weapon. Physically he is shorter than the other characters. He has a moustache and a beard, with wavy long brown hair. We only see the profile of his face.

The man on the left is the tallest person in the painting . One of his hands stretched out, as if he were inviting us to enter into the painting. He’s wearing black shoes and brown breeches. His suit is dark, but we can see a kind of red cloth from his right shoulder to his waist, and a big white ruff. both of (these clothes) over his dark suit. He is also wearing a big black hat. He is redhead, and he is looking ahead.

Behind the main characters, there are a lot of people, all of them are men, apart from the illuminated girl. In the background, one of the most showy character is the man who is wearing red clothes. He is situated on the left of the painting. He’s wearing light boots, red trousers with some little leather bags to keep the gunpowder and the bullets, a red shirt with a red band. Around his neck, he is wearing a white ruff, matching with his cuffs. He’s wearing a big, red and gold hat too. In his hands he has a musket, which is an old weapon. Physically he’s medium-high. He has short brown hair, a moustache and a beard. I think he’s loading his musket, because he’s looking fixedly at his weapon. He draws our attention because of his red clothes, his red and gold hat and his bright ruff and cuffs.

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The last main character is the illuminated girl. She is wearing dark shoes and a long gold dress. She’s also wearing a dark gold belt, from which a dead chicken, whose legs represent the symbol of that rounds , is hung, a weapon and a golden bag. She is also wearing a green golden shawl. She has long, blond hair with a gold tiara. She is short. She seems a child, but her face is an adult face. Behind her there is another smaller girl sketched.

Other characters are darker than the ones we described before. All of them are around the main characters.

2.2 Judgment SARAI: The first time I saw this picture was at school two or three years ago. We were in a history lesson. When I saw this artwork I didn’t pay too much attention because it was just a little picture. But, one day I reviewed this painting with Noe, she showed me that any picture could be interesting. The first thing I saw, when I opened the book and I looked at the image, was the girl, she really attracted my attention, because of the light which illuminates her. Since then, this artwork has been one of my favourite.

I think that all the people who is in the painting are following Frans Banning Cocq and Willen van Ruytenburg, because the soldiery is being leaded by them. They could be talking about the next shoot. All the people is preparing their weapons. Something that disconcerts me is the illuminated girl, because I don’t find any meaning for her.

In summary, I really like this artwork, but all thanks to Noelia.

NOELIA: The first time I saw this amazing painting was five or six years ago, in a book that my grandmother gave me for Christmas. I don’t really know if the first time I saw it I falled in love with it, but maybe, it didn’t pass much time for it. When I was in second course, we studied Baroque art. I was seated next to Sarai, and I showed her this painting. From that moment, we shared our love for this artwork.

For me, the most attractive thing of this painting is the girl. The reason isn’t the light or if she is illuminated, the real reason is the question: Why is she there? I think it isn’t a normal thing that a little girl, with her adult face, appears in the middle of a group of

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soldiers. Now I know that the girl is really his dead wife, but maybe, if I didn’t know it, I would think that she was a kind of ghost or simply a little girl used to liven up the scene.

For me, the man in black is encouraging his soldiers to start the battle. Maybe, that was one of the battles of the ‘Eighty Years War’, that was taking place in Netherlands.

2.3 Experts’ interpretation This artwork is very commentated. The painting represents the moments after a battle. Actually we know that everybody payed for their place in the painting. Rembrandt painted it to decorate the Civic Militia of Amsterdam, but it was stolen years before. The illuminated girl is a representation of Saskia, his wife. She died the same year when Rembrandt painted this work. But she wears two objects that disconcert experts: a dead chicken and a little bag where, maybe, she has gunpowder. This detail origins new interpretations, like that she was the person who hold the flag.

2.4 Light.

Rembrandt used the light to give us a half-light sensation. He used the light to illuminate some specific characters like captain Frans Banning Cocq, lieutenant Willen van Ruytenburg and ‘the illuminated girl’.

When this painting was found, the experts thought that this artwork was a night scene because of the dirt and the deterioration, and that was the reason why the title was changed from Military company of captain Frans Banning Cocq and lieutenant Willen van Ruytenburg to The night watch.

2.5 Colour.

In this artwork the colour is very important, because it’s full of shades and contrasts.

The background is grey and over it stands out the bright, golden lieutenant’s clothes and the red clothes of other two men. Rembrandt used warm tones. His brush-stroke is natural , width and, sometimes, thick. He also used short and fine lines.

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2.6 Symbolisme In this painting there are many details that have a symbolisme. The organisation is one of them. If you pay attention, you can see that the flag, and the spear create an arrow. It guides our vision to the two main characters. Around them there are two groups of people, on the right and on the left. Both of them are organized in triangular groups.

The other character that has a symbolisme is the illuminated girl. She is wearing a dead chicken in her belt. Chicken’s legs create the emblem of that military company. She is also wearing a gun. Those details have a significant: the motto of that company was: gun and claw. The bag that she is carrying with gunpowder means the beginning of a battle.

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3. Bibliography Information resources: Wikipedia. The Night Watch. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Watch [Accessed: 26-02-14] ARTEHISTORIA. La Ronda de Noche. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk5n5VcL0Vs [Accessed 26-02-14] Wikipedia. Saskia Van Uylenburg. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saskia_van_Uylenburgh [Accessed 26-02-14] Rembrandt Biography. http://www.biography.com/people/rembrandt-9455125 [Accessed 03-032014] Hermoso-Espinosa García, Susana. Análisis histórico artístico de La Ronda de Noche de Rembrandt. http://www.homines.com/arte/la_ronda_noche_rembrandt/ [Accessed 03-03-14] d’Harcourt, Claire. Mirar con Lupa: Las grandes obras maestras de la pintura occidental.

Barcelona. Círculo de Lectores. 2004

Images taken from: The Nightwatch by Rembrandt. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Nightwatch_by_Rembrandt.jpg [Accessed 0303-14] Rembrandt Biography. http://www.biography.com/people/rembrandt-9455125 [Accessed 03-032014]

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