Four different residences and functions of the Night Watch!

It is generally known that Rembrandt's Night Watch has been hanging in the Rijksmuseum since 1808. The painting originally hung continuously for 70 years in the Great Hall of the Kloveniersdoelen. In 1715, it ended up in the Amsterdam City Hall / Palace on the Dam. To fit it between two doors of the Occupies of the Small Council Chamber (Mayor's Chamber), it was shortened on the left and at the top. The current dimensions are 279.5 cm high and 453,5 cm wide. The original name of the Night Watch is the Militia Company of Captain Frans Banninck Cock and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburgh. Source of image on the right: Reinier Vinkeles, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Decoration of the Great Hall of the Kloveniersdoelen

On the site of the current Hotel De Doelen (Nieuwe Doelenstraat 24) once stood the clubhouse of the Amsterdam Kloveniers militia. The building housed practice rooms and meeting halls. The Groote Sael on the first floor was decorated with portraits of the Kloveniers, named after the weapon of the Klover (a simple musket). Source: Kunstvensters.com, Where did The Night Watch hang in the Golden Age? Jeroen de Baaij, June 24, 2019 In the reconstruction image of the Groote Sael (18 x 8 m) on the first floor of the Kloveniersschutters-doelen, paintings hung on three walls. Larger militia portraits than usual hang in the 4-meter-high hall. In the schematic image, doors and mantelpieces are absent. There are windows in the fourth wall. Sources: left Joachim von Sandrart, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons and middle and right Govert Flinck, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 1) The company of Cornelis Bicker and Lieutenant Frederick van Banchem, painter Joachim von Sandrart. 2) Doelheren (Regents of the Kloveniersdoelen), painter Govert Flinck. 3) The company of Captain Albert Bas and Lucas Conijn, painter Govert Flinck. 4) The company of Captain Frans Banninck Cock and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburgh, (Kloveniers), painter Rembrandt. Sources: left Nicolaes Eliaszoon Pickenoy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, right Jacob Adriaensz Backer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons and bottom center Bartholomeus van der Helst, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 5) The company of Captain Jan Claesz Vlooswijck and Lieutenant Gerrit Hudde, painter Pickenoy. 6) The company of Captain Cornelis de Graeff and Lieutenant Hendrick Lauwrensz, painter Jacob Backer. 7) The company of Captain Roelof Bicker and Lieutenant Jan Michelsz Blaeuw, painter Bartholomeus van der Helst. The original task of the Amsterdam militia was to defend the city against the Spaniards during the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648). Due to the loss of function in the 17th century, the militia guilds became a society of eating, drinking, and smoking for wealthy townspeople. Of the six captains depicted, four also served as Mayor of Amsterdam. This shows that the Amsterdam elite held all the important positions at that time. Only the six most important companies were painted and hung in the Great Hall. The security of Amsterdam during the Golden Age was in the hands of three civic guards: musketeers, longbowmen, and crossbowmen. The six paintings (five militia pieces and one regent piece) were completed in 1649/45. At the end of the 17th century, the Kloveniersdoelen, along with two other shooting ranges, lost its original function as a practical security and defense facility for Amsterdam. Subsequently, the building served as a meeting place and inn for the wealthiest and most powerful citizens of Amsterdam and their most influential guests. The Groote Sael was used for parties and banquets for eating, drinking, and smoking. The corporalship numbered 18 members, who were to be portrayed in Rembrandt's Night Watch in exchange for payment. Without consultation, the painter added 15 additional non-paying and space-occupying extras, which did result in a livelier image. According to the 18 dissatisfied members (depicted in semi-darkness and varying lighting), the work did not correspond to a traditional group portrait. In 1682, the Amsterdam mayors decided to move the paintings from three city guildhalls to the recently completed City Hall (Palace on the Dam) in 1715. The reason? There was insufficient money to finance the extensive decoration plan for the City Hall. The problem could be solved with the militia and regent pieces from the three Amsterdam civic guard guildhalls (namely those of the musketeers (the most elegant of the three), crossbowmen, and longbowmen). Sources: Tuxyso /Source: Wikimedia Commons and Jvhertum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons In 1882/83, the Kloveniersdoelen complex was demolished. Sections of walls and foundations were preserved and repurposed in the current Hotel De Doelen, which is built in the Neo-Renaissance style. Both statues of musketeers on the dome-shaped turret still refer to the original function of the original building. Decorative blind windows have been installed in the former outer wall of the Kloveniersdoelen. In a corridor and the stairwell of the Doelen Hotel (Nieuwe Doelenstraat 24), a section of this incredibly thick wall can still be admired on the first floor, featuring a reproduction of The Night Watch. In a hallway on the first floor, the stairwell with its thick outer wall, including the lower and upper windows, is still visible from top to bottom (left part of The Night Watch). A fence has been placed in front of the window section for security.

The Night Watch during World War II

In the autumn of 1939, following the German invasion, The Night Watch was taken to Radbout Castle in Medemblik. Due to 'buy-hungry German generals,' the painting was stored in deepest secrecy in deep vaults in the dunes until 1942. With the knowledge of the Germans (the North Sea coast became unsafe due to the construction of the German Atlantic Wall: invasion from England), The Night Watch (rolled up in a metal cylinder) was moved to the Sint Pietersberg to a bomb-proof vault near Maastricht. After 3 years, in June 1945, the painting was unrolled again. From 1942 to 1945, The Night Watch, in its rolled-up state, was stored along with 800 other works of art in a vault in the marl caves of the Sint Pietersberg in the province of Limburg. In the German vision of the future, art was to be given a permanent place in Germany after the war.

Information provision Hotel De Doelen

Until a few years ago, on the first floor of Hotel De Doelen, hotel guests could admire The Night Watch via a black-and-white reproduction accompanied by a rather uninformative text in two languages. There was no mention of The Night Watch, nor the name or function of the building in which the painting originally hung for no less than 70 years. The hotel probably did not appreciate 'Rembrandt pilgrims'. Nevertheless, in July/August 2006, I received permission to take photos of the lobby and stairwell! All rooms in the hotel are numbered: the reproduction of The Night Watch hangs in room 105, and all guest rooms are also numbered, such as room 201. Hotel 'De Doelen' came into the possession of an internationally operating hotel chain a few years ago and is now known as the 5-star hotel 'Tivoli Doelen Amsterdam Hotel' following modernization and reopening in March 2023. The Night Watch originally hung on the wall of the current, exclusive Rembrandt suite, room 105, where hotel guests can enjoy a perfectly colorful, life-size replica of the painting. Information provided there refers to the Rijksmuseum and the Rembrandt House.