Rembrandt

===''The Night Watch''===
[[File:La ronda de noche, por Rembrandt van Rijn.jpg|thumb|upright=1|''[[The Night Watch]]'' or ''The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq'' (1642), an oil on canvas portrait now housed in Rijksmuseum]]

Rembrandt painted ''The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq'' between 1640 and 1642, and it became his most famous work.<ref>Beliën, H & P. Knevel (2006) Langs Rembrandts roem, pp. 92–121</ref> This picture was called ''De Nachtwacht'' by the Dutch and ''The Night Watch'' by Sir [[Joshua Reynolds]] because by 1781 the picture was so dimmed and defaced that it was almost indistinguishable, and it looked quite like a night scene. After it was cleaned, it was discovered to represent broad day—a party of 18 [[musketeer]]s stepping from a gloomy courtyard into the blinding sunlight. For [[Théophile Thoré]] it was the prettiest painting in the world. 

The piece was commissioned for the new hall of the ''[[Kloveniersdoelen, Amsterdam|Kloveniersdoelen]]'', the musketeer branch of the [[schutterij|civic militia]]. Rembrandt departed from convention, which ordered that such genre pieces should be stately and formal, rather a line-up than an action scene. Instead, he showed the militia readying themselves to embark on a mission, though the exact nature of the mission or event is a matter of ongoing debate.

Contrary to what is often said, the work was hailed as a success from the beginning. Parts of the canvas were cut off (approximately 20% from the left-hand side was removed) to make the painting fit its new position when it was moved to the [[Royal Palace of Amsterdam|town hall]] in 1715. In 1817 this large painting was moved to the [[Trippenhuis]]. Since 1885 the painting is on display at the [[Rijksmuseum]].{{Efn|The Rijksmuseum has a smaller copy of what is thought to be the full original composition.<!--the four figures in the front are at the centre of the canvas?-->}} In 1940 the painting was moved to [[Kasteel Radboud]]; in 1941 to a bunker near [[Heemskerk]]; in 1942 to [[St Pietersberg]]; in June 1945 it was shipped back to Amsterdam.