Rembrandt completed The Night Watch in 1642.
The painting’s formal title is Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch. It shows an Amsterdam civic militia company setting out, with Captain Banning Cocq prominently dressed in black and Lieutenant van Ruytenburch in yellow.
Rather than arranging the guards in a static row, Rembrandt created a dramatic scene filled with movement, light, gestures, and overlapping figures. This energetic composition helped make the work one of the best-known paintings of the Dutch Golden Age.
The nickname The Night Watch became popular later, partly because old varnish and accumulated dirt made the scene appear darker than it originally was. The painting is displayed in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum.