FA 30b Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Chiaroscuro, Frans Banninck Cocq, Brushstrokes
Document Summary
Rembrandt"s the night watch was commissioned for the militia of frans banning cocq. This corporate painting does not depict each figure with equal pictorial weight; not all figures are clearly visible. The portraits are not the artist"s primary concern. He uses chiaroscuro, and a series of contrasting diagonals (spears, muskets, cane). The figures behind the captain are chaotic and dynamic, even though this is a group portrait. Some figures have just fired their rifles accidentally. A little girl is shown as an allegorical personification of the militia; she holds a chicken (the militia"s symbol was a claw). Frans banning cocq"s hand creates a shadow on the figure"s clothes, which reveal a lion (the city"s symbol). In the back of the group the artist includes a self-portrait. Rembrandt"s aristotle contemplating the bust of homer was a private commission by a distant admirer of the artist"s works. Aristotle touches the bust of homer and a gold chain.