FA 30b Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Chiaroscuro, Frans Banninck Cocq, Brushstrokes
15 Apr 2017
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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.
