Which Amsterdam guild commissioned Rembrandt’s The Syndics?

The Drapers’ Guild commissioned Rembrandt’s The Syndics.

The painting, completed in 1662, portrays five men who served as syndics, or officials responsible for inspecting the quality of dyed cloth. A servant stands behind them. The sitters look toward the viewer as if interrupted during a meeting, giving the group portrait an unusually animated quality.

The official title is The Sampling Officials of the Amsterdam Drapers’ Guild, although The Syndics is the familiar English name. Rembrandt designed the composition to show the guild’s officers as active participants rather than as a rigid row of portraits.

The work remains in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. It belongs to the tradition of Dutch civic group portraits, a genre that recorded the members of professional, charitable, and administrative organizations. The painting is therefore connected to Amsterdam’s textile trade as well as to Rembrandt’s portrait practice.