The 2021 restoration of Rembrandt Van Rijn’s Night Watch, or rather Musketeers company of Amsterdam District II, replaced three characters on the historically cropped off left verge. Visual puns in the emblems and leaders’ names indicate that the artist had free reign, and that the ceremonial members, and the rising Dutch nation implied in the secular scene, did not take themselves too seriously. The full canvas now offers yet another test of the mindprint model of cultural media, which predicts that all complex artworks of eleven or more characters, include certain optional features, in a fixed peripheral sequence, with their eyes (including a heart and a womb) forming an axial grid, around certain central features. Artists in all cultures subconsciously express bout 60 of the 100 optional features published in the books Mindprint (2014) and Stoneprint (2016), in the paper Blueprint (201), and in Stoneprint Journal magazine editions (2017 -2021).
I had tested structuralist analysis against Night Watch and some other art and rock art works in 2017 for a slide show talk, but did not publish the test of the Night Watch, since seven of about 26 characters seemed to have no structuralist function; and a statue’s eye acted as a type (a compromise typical of miniature works); and the time-frame in the central features seemed uncertain. Structuralist analysis of the 2021 restoration after a 1650s copy, resolves these issues, and reveals that the three re-discovered characters (see types 7A, 7B and 9 below) are slightly too high, due to the copyist’s perspective, and the pikeman sitting on the bridge wall (see 6-7) disturbs the periphery and balance of the design, perhaps added on. Thus some criticisms of Night Watch may have less to do with visual puns and comic narrative, and more with the three characters that were missing for centuries. Viewers probably instinctively felt that the subconscious axial grid was incomplete. “We detect a certain strangeness, a certain unreality to the scene, even though it’s a painting full of noise.” (Wendy Guner 2019). “Spatiality of the Captain lies at the meeting of two lines of sight that are incompossible with one another, by a play of shadows.” (Maurice Merleau-Ponty 1964). The composition “forces you… left… mind and perception are challenged… perplexity as to which way to turn, sense-perception or inferential knowledge… forcing the spectator off balance… What is that dissonant singularity that no one has heard and no one has seen?” (Beaudry 2010). The last comment is about an assassination allegory theory, but the general unease may be due as much to the three missing characters on the left, and the too prominent pike lancer or dragoon looming over the left side, as to the left-right movement of the mascot group (two girls and antique guard firing a musket), contrary to the right-left movement of the company. The unease could not have been due to the original composition, or to the mixture of nobility, commoners and symbols. Visual puns and proverbs were often used in Dutch and Flemish Renaissance paintings (see
and see https://stoneprintjournal.wordpress.com/2019/12/04/subconscious-order-in-bruegels-dutch-proverbs/
Fictional criticisms included the Korda (1936) movie, where the artist’s friend and patron, Jan Six, supposedly labells the design as “confusion… not serious art.” Godard’s 1982 movie Passion labelles the design “full of holes and badly filled spaces,” good only to look at the faces.” Unease through the centuries may have been due to the three characters lost in the trim to fit the canvas between two pillars in Amsterdam Town Hall (see the timeline below). By removing the three on the bridge at left, and moving the two foreground characters to the centre, the re-framers broke the invisible, subconscious axial grid as revealed in this post. And the grid indicates that the restoration based on the 1650s Lundens copy placed the three restored faces slightly too high, failing to compensate enough for the copyist’s perspective from the left of the large canvas. The small etching copy for Capt Cocq’s book is no help here, since the copyist made a new composition with a different axial grid, as freehand copyists always do (for example in freehand copies of rock art panels).
Raised from dark to light, subconscious to conscious
Darkening of the resin and grime did more than turn a daytime parade drill into a supposed night scene. The layers also flattened the stark depth of perspective, softened the dramatic motions, and hid the rough texture of brush-strokes. Rembrandt had deviated from the popular sub-genre of civic militia portrait or guardroom scene (Guner 2019) that had revived the earlier already Neo-Classical Roman versions of Greek soldiers matching their ethics and muscle against mechanistic empires. French artist Louis David’s Oath of the Horatii (1784) is one of the best known Renaissance versions of this eternal theme. Dutch local militia companies were raised in the 1500s War of Independence, while the Spanish army was in Flanders (Daily Art Magazine 2020). But in Rembrandt’s time, Holland was at peace and musketeer groups became a mere feast day ceremonial and additional guild or men’s clubs with paying members, much as they did in France.
Dutch art in the late 1600s was done with self-aggrandisement, moving to domestic opulence, and exploring hyper-realism of lens projection or camera obscura overlays, as used by Vermeer (Janson 2001). Rembrandt was done with grand civic commissions and portraits after Night Watch, entering a decade of smaller works. His own pride, extravagance, snobbery, and rough texture were also going out of fashion. His former pupil Gerrit Dou overshadowed him in realism, fame and success. Only much later Impressionists returned to texture as part of the message of the medium of paint. Below is a list of the Night Watch characters, by the standard labels and sequence of the structuralist anthropology model named mindprint, to enable comparison with other artworks and rock art works.
Type; Character (noting archetypal features):
2 Builder; Lancer in metal helmet far right.
2c Basket; Noble in soft brimmed hat (hat, not accounted here due to abundance), pointing (arm-link). C-types are between specific axes.
3 Queen; Central guard behind the leaders, turned (neck bent).
4 King; Lancer with metal helmet.
5a Priest; Preacher? (priest) or Judge? (judge) in top hat and probably tails (tailcoat).
5a-b A; Lancer? In metal helmet. OFF THE GRID but opposite the ceremonial spear shadow in the right foreground, where the artist may have painted and later erased an item.
5a-b B; Citizen in beret far back, peering over a shoulder, probably a self-portrait of Rembrandt himself.
5b Ensign Jan Visscher ‘Fisher’ Cornelissen, ‘Horn’ (more typical of type 6), raising company kleuver or colours (colours) in ritual (‘priest’), in sash (sash) and coat (tailcoat). Kleuver is also the word for musket, and close to clauwen, ‘claws’.
5c Tail; Company colours (colour) flag (weave), far out (egress). C-types are between specific axes.
6 Exile; Guard in helmet, touching the colours.
6 -7 ?; Pike lancer sitting on the bridge wall. His position and prominence breaks the periphery and balance of the groupings, thus it is possible that he was added to the design during the work, or part of an initial design before the artist imposed the subconscious axial spacing of eyes. This kind of ‘interruption’ is rare (Furter 2014).
7 Child; Musketeer A in red, loading powder with a ramrod (‘mace’), from the type 10 boy’s powder horn.
And nobles A and B on the bridge far left, restored by referring to the 1660s Gerrit Lundens copy, made before they were cut off in 1715. The copyist, viewing from the left, had placed their faces too high by a finger’s breadth.
7g Gal.Centre; Noble A’s shoulder (limb-joint) far left.
9 Healer; Boy (more typical of 7) looking over the bridge wall (‘pillar’), restored after the 1650s Gerrit Lundens copy, made before he was cut off in 1715. The copyist, viewing from the left, had placed this face too high by half its length.
9c Lid; Bridge bastion (pillar).
10 -11?; Musketeer B, mascot in medieval armour and wreath (disc, of 10) of oak leaves, emblem of musketeers, bracing his legs and firing, probably a blank signal shot. Its smoke billows behind the white ostrich plume on the Lieutenant’s hat.
10 Teacher; Boy with gunpowder horn (hunt-master, guard), its lid (disc) on the ground. He leans on the river railing (metal).
11 Womb; Cook or mascot girl’s midriff (womb), perhaps pregnant. Modelled on Rembrandt’s wife Saskia. Her function as cook, and the rooster, are puns on the surname of Capt Cocq, perhaps gentrified Kok, ‘Cook’.
And a chicken body (womb in irony) hanging inverted on her belt as a defeated enemy, perhaps Spain or the French rooster. The work was commissioned for the banquet hall of the newly built Kloveniers Doelen, Musketeers Meeting Hall, shortly before or after the visit of French queen Marie de Medici 1638, exiled by her son Louis XIII. The claws on the girl’s belt are like the eagle claws emblem in the coat of arms of the musketeers of Capt Cocq, literally ‘Rooster’. She also carries a pistol in her belt behind the chicken, and holds the unit’s precious goblet or drinking cup (type 11p, decan Crater) as used in their hall.
And another girl (womb) behind her (Schaller 2021).
And Capt Cocq’s purse or staff pommel cloth.
12 Heart; Chest (heart) of Capt Frans Banninck Cocq, probably after Kok ‘Cook’ (see 11), with the pretentious spelling meaning ‘Rooster’, dressed in black, with red sash (more typical of 5 opposite), signalling the order to gather and march (weapon, fort; part of the general theme). He was also Lord of Purmerlandt, perhaps after ‘Pure More Land’, implying heritage (one of the rare features of type 12/13).
12 -13 Heart; Shadow of the ceremonial spear (weapon) on the foreground. A scan indicated a possible overpainted item here. This shadow is opposite a character at 5a-b.
13 Heart; Chest (heart) of Lt Willem van Ruytenburch, ‘Horseman Town’ (horse) or ‘Knight Castle’ (fort), dressed in yellow of victory, with a white sash (more typical of 5 opposite), with ceremonial spear (weapon, part of the general theme). He was also Lord of Laerderdingen.
And chest (heart) of the dog, barking at the drummer, who was not a unit member.
13c Head; Drum (‘lid’) of wood (’tree’). C-types are between specific axes.
14 Mixer; Musketeer C in brown, blowing clear his priming pan, third phase in the musket use cycle (time, transform). Near the centre (ingress).
15 Maker; Drummer with skins (‘bag’), torques and snares (rope), starting the parade or march (order, smite). He was not a member, but hired to pose, and his name was added to the later list on the shield.
15g Gal.Gate; Guard type 2’s elbow (limb-joint), far right. The northern and southern ‘galactic equators’ often lie across many limb-joints or a path, here in the foreground from left to right through two elbows, a knee, five feet, two paws, and two elbows.
Axle; Capt Cocq’s jaw (limb-joint) giving the order to form up and parade.
4p Gal.S.Pole; Lancer type 4’s shoulder (limb-joint).
And shield on the archway (juncture) with names of the 18 paying members, added 1715 by an unknown artist a generation later. The hired drummer (at 15) was added for free.
11p Gal.Pole; Capt Cocq’s elbow (limb-joint).
Midsummer; Capt Cocq’s gesturing hand (limb-joint), below the centre (vertical).
Midwinter; Rear central boy’s jaw (limb-joint), above the centre (vertical).
Age; The solstice markers and the vertical plane place midsummer between axes 12-13 or Leo central, thus spring and the cultural time-frame is Age Taurus central, long before the work as usual.
Main theme of ritual, colour, action, dress, assembly, weapon
The main subconscious themes in this work are revealed by extra features of four types on two axes, or two pairs of opposites:
Types 5a/b Priest, including colours (here banners, dress and sashes), ritual (parade), hyperactive, tailcoat, assembly, or sash; opposite types 12/13 Heart, of weapon, fort, or angel (mascot group). These features are also the main conscious theme, but their clustering is innate.
Type 7 Child, including rope (banners, drum), juvenile (two girls at 11, and boys at 10 and 10-11 mascot), unfold (formation), mace (staff, spear); opposite type 15 Maker, of order, doubled, smite, face (paid portraits).
Scoring the analysis
By the current formula to test the validity of the analysis (already confirmed in more than 800 artworks and rock art works of all styles, cultures and ages), Rembrandt’s Night Watch has 32/68 archetypal features; 15/16 axial points (an excessive score is allowed here, since full scores are impossible in some other layers); 4/4 c-type sector features; 2/2 g-gate sector features; 5/5 polar markers; 1/2 planar or cardinal orientations; 1/1 correlation with the Age or Age prior to the work; 2/2 general themes; thus 62/100, minus 6 extra characters off the axial grid; total 56%. All artworks and built sites express about 60% of the optional recurrent features of archetypal structure. Thus the structuralist analysis confirms the mindprint model, despite having 34 characters on the canvas commissioned by 17 members. Structuralist features of expression are universal, and subconscious to artists, architects, builders and crafters of any culture.
A short history of Rembrandt’s Night Watch canvas
-1600 s Seven Dutch artists picture musket groups.
-1639 Capt Cocq and 16 members his Musketeers commission Rembrandt to paint them for their banquet hall, before or after a visit of French queen Marie de Medici. Too large for his house studio at Jodenbree Str 4, 1011 New Church, Amsterdam, perhaps he worked in his summer kitchen at the back for three years, or in an adjacent church, or in the meeting hall.
-1642 Painting completed.
-1650 s Paid copy by Gerrit Lundens, before the trim of 1715 (London’s National Gallery, but in the Rijksmuseum). Also a small engraving copy for Capt Cocq’s family album.
-1656 Van Rijn sells his house in the lavish Jewish quarter. His maid and common law wife Hendrickje sold his items while he was prohibited by law to do so.
-1669 Van Rijn dies aged 69, buried in an unmarked grave by the church, after 20y dug up and discarded, as was common practice.
-1715 Night Watch canvas moves to Amsterdam Town Hall, trimmed on all four sides to fit between two columns, losing three characters on the left. The cutoffs are lost. When Napoleon occupied the Netherlands, the Town Hall was Palace on the Dam and magistrates moved the painting to the Tripp family house. Napoleon ordered it returned, but after the occupation in 1813 the painting moved again to the Tripp house, then the Dutch Academy of Sciences.
-1790 s Varnish and grime darkens, nickname ‘Night Watch’.
-1885 Rijksmuseum completed, accepts Night Watch.
-1885 Copy by August Jernbert.
-1900 s Full-sized replica to New York Canajoharie Library & Art Gallery, donated by founder Bartlett Arkell.
-1909 Rembrandt grave memorial stone at north wall of Westerkerk, Dutch Reformed Church, a copy of the memorial on the colonnaded wall above the plumed helmet of one of the pike carriers in Night Watch (Guner 2121).
-1911 January; A jobless shoemaker, former Navy cook, attempts to slash the painting with a shoemaker’s knife.
-1936 Alexander Korda’s move Rembrandt shown the truncated form, dramatising supposed criticism by the owners and the artist’s friend for supposedly lampooning the gentlemen musketeers, but this is fiction. A later movie implied that Rembrandt modelled the mascot girl after his wife’s face without a sitting.
-1939 WWII; Rijksmuseum rolls and stores the canvas in a Maastricht cave. Later re-mounted, restored, and returned.
-1946 -47 restoration, varnish removed.
-1975 Sept; Bread knife attack by a mad unemployed schoolmaster, De Rijk. Permanent guard posted. Restored after four years. De Rijk committed suicide in April 1976, before he was charged.
-1982 Jean-Luc Godard’s film Passion. The opening shot criticises the design
-1990 April; A psychiatric patient sprays sulphuric acid on the painting with a concealed pump bottle. Guards spray water to save the paint.
-1995 Night Watch movie plot about the painting’s theft.
-Royal Delft tile factory made a tile version of 480 tiles, drawn in shades of black and white from cobalt oxide, that turns blue in firing. It was bought by an anonymous buyer, and given to Delft museum on loan.
-2002 Night Watch parody copy on the British cover of Terry Pratchett’s book of the same name. Cover illustrator Paul Kidby paid tribute to his predecessor Josh Kirby, by placing him in the picture where Rembrandt painted himself (see 5a-b B above).
-2003 Dec; Rijksmuseum refurbishment. The canvas is wrapped in paper, driven on a cart, and returned to the Philips wing.
-2006 A sculpture and bronze case version at Rembrandt Square, unveiled 2009 by Russian sculptor Taratynov, toured and returned 2021 to stand before the 1852 cast iron statue of Rembrandt.
-2007 Reality TV series Amazing Race 21 had teams re-creating the Night Watch scene using live actors.
-2007 Peter Greenaway movie Nightwatching on a supposed conspiracy in the musketeer regiment and supposed allegory in the design, for which the artist is supposedly ruined.
-2008 Episode 3 of season 2 of Netflix’s Sense8.
-2008 Peter Greenaway movie Rembrandt’s J’Accuse, a sequel, with detailed analysis of the composition, “fourth most famous painting in the Western world”, after Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, Leonardo’s Last Supper, and Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling of Genesis scenes.
-2011 Oct; LED lighting without UV or heat, reveals some colours.
-2013 April; Rijksmuseum flashmob ‘Our Heroes are Back’ recreates Night Watch in a shopping mall in Breda, Netherlands, posted on YouTube on April Fool’s day.
-2013 Returned to its own hall in the museum.
-2019 July; Operation Night Watch restoration starts in Gallery of Honour glass enclosure.
-2020 May; Photo stitch of 44.8 Gigapixel from 528 photos, in 24 rows of 22 pictures each.
-2021 June to Sept; Trimmed-off sections recreated using convolutional neural networks, an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm, based on the 1650s copy by Lundens.
-2121 June; Structuralist analysis of the full design reveals the axial grid that all artists subconsciously use to space the focal points of characters. The grid reveals that character 9 should move downward by half the length of the face, and characters 7A and 7B should move slightly downward by a finger’s width. The restorers had noted that “the recreation was corrected for perspective from the left side”, thus these characters seemed larger and higher to the copyist Lundens looking up from the left side.
Some References
Beaudry, P. 2010. Rembrandt’s The Night Watch and the paradox of creativity. European Art. amatterofmind.org
Daily Art Magazine. 2020. 15 things you may not know about the Night Watch by Rembrandt
Guner, F. 2019. Why Rembrandt’s Night Watch is still a mystery. BBC Culture
Janson, J. 2001. Vermeer and the Camera Obscura. Essential Vermeer.
Merleau-Ponty, M. 1964. Eye and Mind. Transl. Carleton Dallery in Primacy of Perception, ed. by James Edie. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 159-190
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Schaller, Wendy. 2021. Rembrandt, the Night Watch. Khanacademy
EdmondFurter.wordpress.com 
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