The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banninq Cocq and of Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenurch, better known as: The Night Watch

Rembrandt's "The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banninq Cocq and of Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenurch, better known as: The Night Watch" is on display in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

437 x 363 cm, Oil on canvas

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

This just has to be the most famous painting in the Netherlands! The men in the painting are riflemen, volunteers who defended the city. Round about 1800, almost 150 years after the painting was finished, it was nicknamed 'The Night Watch'. Why was this? The painting had become dull and dirty. It seemed as if it were night time! In those days, people thought that the riflemen were on watch during the night.