In the Nightwatch, nothing is what it seems. Rembrandt made choices that centuries later would still raise questions. For example, the indistinct characters in the painting have given rise to a whole range of interpretations. In actual fact, however, Rembrandt would not limit himself to obvious truths, instead allowing characters to be born from his imagination.

Pikes, muskets, lances, shields and swords. The Nightwatch’s shooting company may come heavily armed, but precious little fighting was going on at the time. The war with Spain had more or less run its course, and the Amsterdam militia would turn up mostly at ceremonies or to quell minor riots. The civic guard had effectively developed into a social club for well-to-do citizens. In the year 1715, decades after the completion of the Nightwatch and also many years after Rembrandt’s death, an addition is made to the painting – at the top of the painting, a shield is painted by a mysterious, anonymous artist. Inside the shield are the names of the men who had paid money to be included in the painting. And yet, for centuries it remained unclear which faces matched the names listed. It was not until 2008 that historian Bas Dudok van Heel, after many years of research, managed to solve the puzzle. .

From the very first brush stroke, Rembrandt purposefully set out to impose order on the jumble of people represented in the Nightwatch. He wanted this military painting to be dynamic, while avoiding any sense of clutter. The composition of the painting is all-important. The way that Rembrandt places the various characters in space and highlights them adds balance to the painting in a most essential way, resulting in an action-packed image.

When the Kloveniersgilde (Arquebusier’s Guild) asked Rembrandt to paint a civic guard portrait, they might have known this artist would not follow traditional styles. Military group portraits were expected to show sitters in a stately, posed manner, but Rembrandt the rebel painter is bent on changing this tradition as well. In the Nightwatch, he captures a dramatic event frozen in time, moments before the civic militia marches out.

Over the course of the centuries, the Nightwatch has repeatedly suffered. Despite the tightest possible security, this work of art of national importance has turned out to be quite vulnerable. While the government went to extreme lengths to keep the painting safe during wartime, its greatest threats were in times of peace. Nonetheless, it has survived multiple relocations and targeted attacks.

Rembrandt spent many years working on the Nightwatch. In 1642, when he finishes the painting, he presents it to his patrons: the guardsmen of the Amsterdam Kloveniersgilde. In the guild’s festival and meeting room, the Nightwatch is hung on a long wall near the chimney. It would remain there for more than 70 years.

In lots of ways, the Nightwatch differs from the other military themed paintings in the room, and not all sitters are clearly visible. Many therefore believe that the company was not particularly pleased with the result, but proof to support this has never been offered. Quite the contrary in fact – seeing that Rembrandt received 1600 guilders for the painting, a king’s ransom at the time. Moreover, the Nightwatch was hung in the room of the Kloveniersdoelen, as had been previously agreed. The proud Frans Banninck Cocq even had a water colour of the Nightwatch painted for his personal collection.

By 1715, the militia guilds are well past their heyday, and the Amsterdam city government now decides to relocate the Nightwatch to the city hall on Dam Square. There is one problem, however: the Nightwatch is simply too big and will not fit in the allocated space. And so it is decided to cut off a sizeable section from the painting. This particular piece of the canvas has disappeared, never to be found again.

In 1816, the Rijksmuseum moves into the Trippenhuis on Kloveniersburgwal. It’s not easy to see, but the Trippenhuis facade actually comprises two identical houses, mirrored in design. The Nightwatch was hung in the ‘’Big Hall’ of the house to the left. In 1885, the new and still current building of the Rijksmuseum is completed, and the entire collection, including Rembrandt’s military piece, is moved to its new location. The Nightwatch is given pride of place, at the very heart of the new Rijksmuseum.

Over the centuries, the painting has carried different titles, but the name that stuck, ‘the Nightwatch’, was definitely not the one Rembrandt had in mind. By the 19th century, the varnish layer that covered the painting had become dirty and darkened. Back then, the only conclusion that could be drawn was that the militia had been assembled in the hours of the night. That’s how it earned its current name, the Nightwatch. It was not until after the canvas had been cleaned that the militia members proved to be standing in a dark space lit by daylight.

On 13 January 1911, a visitor suddenly steps across the cord that is there to keep people at a distance from the Nightwatch. Pulling out a cobbler’s knife, he repeatedly lashes out at the painting. Guards manage to subdue him before he can cause permanent damage. He turned out to be a sailor who had been declared unfit for work and who, out of frustration, wanted to take revenge on the government. He is sentenced to one year of imprisonment.

By the late 1930s, the threat of a new world war has become imminent. The country’s chief works of art now need to be moved to a safe location. The dunes along the Dutch west coast seem safe enough, so a start is made with constructing purpose-built art storage bunkers near Heemskerk, Zandvoort and Castricum.

The Rijksmuseum is facing a monumental task: approximately 2,000 paintings and more than 30.000 precious artefacts need to be relocated to their temporary safe storage. The Nightwatch ends up in the knight’s hall of Radboud Castle, in the town of Medemblik.

When the Germans invade the Netherlands, only the art bunker in Castricum is finished. On 13 May 1940, dr. Schmidt Degener, then director of the Rijksmuseum, decides that is where the Nightwatch should be moved to. Upon its arrival, the painting is laid out on a lawn in order to remove its frame. Next, the Nightwatch is taken down to the storage space, several metres below the Castricum dune sands. About a year later, the painting is again moved, now to a bunker near Heemskerk.

For a long time, the dunes remained a safe area, but as the war progresses, the frontlines are also getting nearer to the coast. This prompts the Germans to build a defence line that would protect them against an Allied invasion. Once again, the priceless Dutch works of art are under threat, and can no longer remain hidden in the dunes.

And so it is decided to build a large vault in the marl caves of the Sint-Pietersberg, in the province of Limburg. On 24 March 1942, the Nightwatch is installed there. The vault offers protection to a total of 750 paintings, and is guarded 24/7 by police and museum staff.

In July 1945, the vault in Limburg is cleared out, and the Nightwatch is put on a boat to Amsterdam. After years of travelling and being hidden away in castles, dunes and caves, the Nightwatch finally returns home: to the Rijksmuseum. In the museum’s inner courtyard, the painting is rolled out and reframed. Much to the relief of all, the Nightwatch turns out to have survived the war unscathed.

In 1975, the Nightwatch once again falls victim to an attack by a confused person. Eye-witnesses state that, on 14 September, a by all appearances respectable gentleman entered the museum. Heading straight for the Nightwatch, he produces a serrated knife and, to the horror of all those present, starts slashing away at the painting. Assisted by a visitor, the guard manages to wrestle the attacker to the ground. But the damage is already done – the bottom section of the Nightwatch is in tatters. Particularly the captain’s and lieutenant’s legs have suffered badly. Lying on the floor in front of the painting is a triangular piece of canvas. “I didn’t attack a human being, only a painting. I couldn’t help it", the confused man is supposed to have cried out. It would take the restorers the best part of eight months to repair the damage to the painting. Despite their best efforts, a permanent scar remains in the Nightwatch: just above the dog we can still make out the traces of a cut.

In 1990, yet another attack. This time a man armed with a syphon filled with sulphuric acid assaults the Nightwatch. A guard responds swiftly, striking the syphon from his hands and instantly spraying the painting with specially distilled water. Rijksmuseum experts soon conclude that only the varnish has been affected, but that the damage would have been a lot more serious had it not been for the museum guard’s vigilance. Later, the attacker stated to the police that he was an ‘art lover’.

In October 2018, the Nightwatch becomes breaking news in both the Dutch and international media: the Rijksmuseum announces a large-scale research project and subsequent restoration of the Nightwatch. The researchers will try to explore and unravel mysteries that have hitherto remained hidden inside the painting. The canvas will remain on display behind a glass wall, so the public can watch the process both live and online. It’s there for the whole world to see. After all, the Nightwatch belongs to us all.