Rembrandt, his life, his work and his time . ïïïçh^_çjHrî-positions. He clajmed absolute liberty. When, on first establishinghimself at Amsterdam, he found himself the fashionable portrait-painter of the hour, he may have made momentary concessionsto the caprices of his sitters. But he had now been independentfor some years, and had gradually abandoned himself more andmore to the somewhat fantastic strain in his character. Largepictures and compositions, in which he could give his powers freescope, had now greater attractions for him, and the proposedsubject was a congenial one. It combined re
Rembrandt, his life, his work and his time . ïïïçh^_çjHrî-positions. He clajmed absolute liberty. When, on first establishinghimself at Amsterdam, he found himself the fashionable portrait-painter of the hour, he may have made momentary concessionsto the caprices of his sitters. But he had now been independentfor some years, and had gradually abandoned himself more andmore to the somewhat fantastic strain in his character. Largepictures and compositions, in which he could give his powers freescope, had now greater attractions for him, and the proposedsubject was a congenial one. It combined realism with an appealto the imagination, and evoked memories of his childhood andyouth at Leyden. Did his patrons suggest the episode to be represented, or was theinspiration entirely Rembrandts own ? We know not. But it seemsprobable that the captain of the company recommended the master,then in the heyday of his popularity, to the other members of the civicguard. This captain, Frans Banning Cocq, was one of the foremost ,<S ^ 1 Oh. THE NIGHT WATCH 283 citizens of Amsterdam at this period. Possessed of a considerablepatrimony to which he had added largely, partly by his own exertions,partly by marriage with a daughter of the Burgomaster VolckertOverlander, he had purchased the seignory of Purmerland in 1618,and had been granted a patent of nobility by James II. in 1620. Aman of intelligence and taste, he was probably quite willing to givethe master a free hand in the execution of his to which, the programme submitted to him by Rembrandtwas well calculated to flatter his vanity. The proposed originalityof treatment, coupled with the name of Rembrandt, ensured thenotoriety of a work in which he, as captain, was to occupy the mostprominent place. In consideration of the painters reputation, 1600florins were offered him in payment, a sum greatly in excess ofany hitherto received for such works. The subscription of eachperson destined to figure in the pictu
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1894
