"If the dog in one corner of Rembrandt's The Night Watch (1642) painting looks a little out of place as the brave citizens of Amsterdam march out to defend the city-he is. New research into Rembrandt van Rijn's masterpiece suggests that this barking dog was inspired by the title page of a widely available book on the temptations of the flesh, illustrated by the Dutch artist, poet and publisher Adriaen van de Venne."
""As soon as I saw that dog, The Night Watch dog came into my mind-I recognised it by the turn of the head," she says. Further investigation into a chalk underdrawing of The Night Watch, using macro X-ray florescence (MA-XRF) scans, showed even more resemblances between the two dogs. In the final painting, Rembrandt, however, put his dog on all four legs and added a tongue to suggest to the viewer that it was barking at a massive drum."
""It's very clever how Rembrandt adjusted his dog, putting it in an active stance, vigilant and alert," she says. "At any moment, his dog could run away, and this strengthens the living quality of the painting. It feels like something could happen at any moment and the dog plays a very important role.""
New research identifies Adriaen van de Venne's engraved title page as the visual source for the barking dog in Rembrandt's The Night Watch. The painting is undergoing public restoration inside a glass box at the Rijksmuseum. Curator Anne Lenders recognised the resemblance during an exhibition at the Zeeuws Museum. Macro X-ray fluorescence (MA-XRF) scans of a chalk underdrawing revealed further similarities. Rembrandt altered the figure in the finished work, placing the dog on all four legs and adding a tongue to imply barking at a massive drum. The active, vigilant stance increases the painting's immediacy and living quality, and Rembrandt owned many of Van de Venne's prints.
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