How you can use this image

This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).

Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.

The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Buy a print or image licence

You can purchase this reproduction

If you have any products in your basket we recommend that you complete your purchase from Art UK before you leave our site to avoid losing your purchases.

Order a print

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

This is an early, small-scale copy of one of the world’s most famous paintings, Rembrandt’s The Night Watch of 1642 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). Rembrandt’s commission was to paint a huge group portrait of musketeers under the command of Captain Frans Banning Cocq. At the time, companies of volunteers like these, known as militia groups, were an important part of the defence arrangements for Dutch cities. Membership and leadership positions were held in high esteem.

This picture is far smaller than the original – about 0.5 square metres compared with nearly 16 square metres – but it is a vital historical document. It records details which were lost when The Night Watch was cut down on all sides, probably in 1715. The two men and a child on the extreme left no longer appear in Rembrandt’s painting, and the National Gallery copy also shows more of the drummer on the right.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

The Company of Captain Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch ('The Nightwatch')

Date

after 1642

Medium

Oil on oak

Measurements

H 66.8 x W 85.4 cm

Accession number

NG289

Acquisition method

Bequeathed by the Revd Thomas Halford, 1857

Work type

Painting

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.

View venue

Artist or maker

Gerrit Lundens

1622–1686

View profile

Peasants Feasting in a Barn National Trust, Melford Hall
A Surgeon Applying Medicine to a Wound in the Shoulder of a Man in Pain Wellcome Collection
Interior with a Surgeon Attending to a Chest Wound Wellcome Collection
Dutch Company Merrymaking Essex County Council
'La main chaude', Dutch Party Playing Games in an Interior Essex County Council
Interior with a Surgeon Operating on a Man's Back Wellcome Collection
The Company of Captain Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch ('The Nightwatch') The National Gallery, London
1 more